Professor Kevin Morgan claims hospital food is an ‘investment not a cost’

Professor Kevin Morgan of Cardiff University delivered a compelling address at the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) Forum on the pressing need to reframe food procurement in the public sector.

Drawing from his research into the failed Powys Food Links initiative, which sought to source local food for local hospitals, Professor Morgan identified EU procurement procedures and a lack of metrics for measuring health outcomes as key barriers.

He criticised the NHS’s current approach, which frames food procurement primarily as a cost-cutting exercise, and warned that hospitals are ‘set up to fail’ by being expected to provide clinical solutions to deep-rooted societal problems.

“The real cost of our poor diet is £268bn once you factor in the cost of treating ill health,” he said.

Citing successful initiatives in schools that adopt a ‘whole-school approach’, such as the Food for Life programme by the Soil Association, Professor Morgan urged hospitals to embrace a similarly holistic view.

“Procurement, catering and food waste must be tackled together, not in silos,” he stressed, referencing the Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food.

He called for greater adoption of plant-based, ‘less but better’ menus, and highlighted the importance of exemplar sites in spreading best practice.

“Public sector caterers are part of the solution,” he concluded, “and good food must be seen not as a cost, but as an investment in our collective future.”