The downloads and links below provide useful information and guidance relating to food and food service.

Resources and tools 

NHS Recipe Bank
The NHS Recipe Bank provides a collection of nutritionally analysed recipes with low carbon footprints. These will help our chefs and catering teams to design balanced menu choices, promoting the use of locally sourced and seasonal ingredients, supporting local farmers and economies.
NHS Recipe Bank

NHS Menu
NHS Menu template for use by Trusts when developing local menus.
NHS Menu templates

Nutritional spreadsheet
Spreadsheet containing information on the nutritional content of National Dish Selector recipes.
Nutritional spreadsheet May '05
168Kb Excel document

Patient catering satisfaction questionnaire
Questionnaire to measure patients’ satisfaction with their catering service and database to process findings and generate reports. Database files are Microsoft Access for Office 97 or Office 2000. Guidance notes should also be downloaded.
Questionnaire (115Kb PDF document)
Questionnaire template (48Kb Word document)
Questionnaire User Guide (599Kb Word document)

Access database files for Office 2000:
Questionnaire Access Database 1 of 2 (BHFSurIn) (1.67Mb Access 2000 mdb file)
Questionnaire Access Database 2 of 2 (BHFSurBe) (336Kb Access 2000 mdb file)

Guidance

Managing Food Waste in the NHS
This document identifies why food wastage occurs in healthcare facilities and suggests how it may be effectively managed in a cost-efficient way.
Managing Food Waste in the NHS (408Kb PDF document)

Useful publications 

Council of Europe report
Recommendations from the Council of Europe’s committee of experts on nutrition, food safety and consumer protection.
Council of Europe report on nutrition

Patients' nutritional care in hospital
Royal College of Nursing Institute report into nurse's role in nutritional care in hospital, published in 2005.
Patients' nutritional care in hospital: An ethnographic study of nurses' role and patients' experience

Audit Commission report on Hospital Catering Services
Wide-ranging review of hospital catering services.
www.audit-commission.gov.uk

Public sector procurement initiative
New initiative aiming to ensure that food being served in hospitals, prisons and other public sector facilities meets key government targets in areas such as nutrition and the environment.
www.defra.gov.uk

Food and meal purchasing
Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) NHS Food Safety Audits aimed at ensuring food and meals delivered to hospitals are as free from risk as possible.
PASA code of practice (128Kb PDF document)
Food incident notification procedure: www.pasa.nhs.uk

The Essence of Care toolkit
Modernisation Agency toolkit providing guidance on meeting the nutritional needs of patients.
Full report: www.dh.gov.uk
Summary of section 3, food and nutrition (64Kb PDF document)

Allergy Catering Manual
Manual produced by Foods Matter magazine containing guidance on catering for people with food allergies or intolerance.
Allergy Catering Manual (48Kb PDF document)

Ward Housekeeping service
The Ward Housekeeping programme supports the Better Hospital Food Programme by introducing new staff to the ward environment with responsibilities for food service delivery.
A First Guide to New, Modern and Dependable Housekeeping Services in the NHS (304Kb PDF document)

Breaking the Mould pureed food scheme
Innovative scheme to re-form pureed foods to look like the items they were made from, successfully developed at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust.
Breaking the Mould programme (660Kb Word document)
Breaking the Mould meal example (60Kb JPEG image)

FSA Food Handlers: Fitness to Work
This guidance helps managers and staff to prevent the spread of infection by advising which illnesses and symptoms staff should report and what managers should do in response. Click to download the guide, or alternatively find out more at www.food.gov.uk