Clean bill of health for Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital catering

The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital picked up a five out of five rating.

The main kitchen, League of Friends coffee shop and patient, staff and visitor restaurant at the hospital were all inspected to see how well standards of food hygiene are maintained.

The scheme gives food businesses a rating from zero to five and how hygienically the food is handled; physical condition of the area and how food is kept safe are all taken into account to determine a score.

A score of five is top of the scale and means hygiene standards are excellent and fully comply with the law.

Dan Hoggett, catering manager, said: “Maintaining our five stars has helped us to continue to supply high-quality, nutritious food to our patients, staff and visitors, which has scored us top of the country in the Care Quality Commission’s adult inpatient survey for the past three years running.

Overhaul

“Recently, as part of an overhaul of the restaurant, we asked the team how we could improve standards and practice and it was their ideas that helped us get to this stage.

“For example, Jan, our salad chef, said the open-air salad bar would put a lot of people off having a salad in the restaurant.

“We worked with our estates team who purpose-built a new salad bar which has a focus on food hygiene to ensure salad stays fresh.”

Sian Langford, deputy facilities manager, said: “Denbigh’s Restaurant was long overdue an upgrade, so we worked with the estates and medical illustration team to improve the environment for patients, staff and visitors.

“To have the serving area fully replaced we were quoted £60,000, but the update has cost us no more than £3,000 and still ticks all the boxes, including food safety and hygiene standards.”

Martine Williams, facilities manager, said: “We’ve come a long way in the past year and I’m very proud of everyone involved in maintaining our five star rating.”