At this years’ HCA Forum, Nick Vadis of NHS Supply Chain shared how every day, 100,000 meals are thrown away in the NHS – equating to 36 million per year. Annual food waste therefore, results in a staggering estimated cost to the sector of £230 million and is a significant contributor to the NHS’ carbon footprint, demonstrating the sheer size of the food waste challenge across the sector and highlighting why it’s so important that hospitals take action to bring tangible reductions.
In a drive to reduce food waste, and related costs and carbon emissions, associated with mealtimes in the NHS, apetito conceptualised a unique food waste auditing programme to revolutionise patient catering that has now been rolled out across numerous partnering hospitals in the UK – and continuing to grow.
It is clear that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’ and catering operations vary from site to site. An initial audit assesses key areas - ordering, portion control, waste management, and presentation to gauge food waste levels on each ward. From this, a tailored action plan provides targeted recommendations, helping catering teams implement smart changes to minimise waste during meal services.
To date, the project has found that, on average, hospital sites were producing £9,211 worth of food waste annually per ward – equating to an astonishing £294,752 per hospital*. However, following the auditing process from apetito and subsequent implementation of targeted recommendations, this has been reduced across sites by an impressive 29% on average. These results not only revolutionise food waste management strategies and provide substantial cost savings, but also significantly help to drive down carbon emissions and support the NHS’ goal of Net Zero by 2040.
With the NHS on a clear journey to its 2040 Net Zero ambition, reducing its environmental impacts across the estate is of utmost importance – and food waste is one of the significant contributors to carbon emissions globally.
Not only do high levels of food waste have sustainability impacts, but good food ending up in the bin after each meal service brings huge, unnecessary costs for the sector and ramps up spend levels for catering services across the UK.
To tackle this growing challenge, Healthcare meals provider, apetito have introduced a unique programme of tailored food waste audits with a core aim of driving down the amount of food going to waste in the NHS - helping cut costs and carbon emissions associated with mealtimes. The meals provider has been rolling this programme out at partnering sites across the country to support patient catering operations, working alongside key NHS trusts and frameworks, such as NHS Supply Chain.
During an initial audit, apetito’s dedicated Training and Operations team closely examine catering processes to determine the current levels of food wastage. This includes reviewing areas such as ordering and picking processes, portion control, unserved trolley waste and plate waste and presentation. The findings identify areas of greatest concern to the site and enable a tailored action plan to be developed that advises smart changes to implement and significantly cut daily waste.
Despite the personalised approach of the audits and resulting action plan, recommended changes to catering operations commonly aligned with the following areas:
Portion Control
The Challenge: Insufficient portion management resulted in either high levels of plate waste from patients feeling over-faced by the meal served, or unserved waste left in the trolly due to portion sizes being plated up incorrectly.
The Solution: Working with catering teams to ensure they are providing the appropriate portion size for the patient – particularly for those that may require differing portion sizing due to health conditions or age. It’s recommended that catering teams also work closely with the hospital’s Dietetic team to provide a personalised, tailored approach during mealtimes.
Operational
The Challenge: It became apparent that during the ordering process, incorrect quantities were often ordered, and individual needs of each ward had not always been accounted for – resulting in uncooked waste. This sometimes resulted in further unserved waste, if kitchens ended up cooking too much food for the service.
The Solution: Individualised support with ordering systems given to ensure the most suitable and efficient orders are placed that meet the needs for each ward.
Here, apetito also made changes to its own product offering to support service by introducing singleportion options that help caterers ensure more accurate and correct quantities, and better food waste management.
Processes can also be improved to ensure daily patient meal orders are directly translated into the quantity of meals delivered on to each ward, accommodating any last-minute changes, such as cancellations or additional meal requirements.
Plate Presentation
The Challenge: The presentation of a meal when served to a patient can have significant effects on their appetite and overall meal enjoyment – making the difference between them eating a full portion or sending it back to the kitchen untouched.
The Solution: Providing catering teams with practical advice and guidance through dedicated training workshops on best practice plate presentation. This includes reducing spills and drips on the plate, serving correct and suitable accompaniments, definition of individual meal components and garnishing.
Following the audit, each site is left with a detailed action plan of tailored changes to implement across operations and a progress meeting is held after six weeks to offer continued support working through these areas as required. Second audits are then conducted three months later to assess the results of these changes, and determine the reductions seen in food wastage – and associated cost savings. This also provides opportunity for further changes to be suggested to drive even better results into the future months.
Results
Thus far, the project has seen that, on average, hospital sites were producing the equivalent of £9,211 per ward annually in food waste at the initial audit stage – equating to a staggering £294,752 per hospital*. Following the second audit and implementation of the recommended changes highlighted by apetito, hospitals managed to reduce this by an impressive 29% on average – driving significant cost efficiencies for the site as well as helping to reduce levels of carbon emissions.
Following a successful rollout with Barts Health NHS Trust, the team praised the results seen so far, with a reduction in both waste volume and unnecessary costs, with one contact saying:
“The audits that apetito have carried out have helped see a reduction in the number of main course portions wasted. They have also raised awareness of the full range of apetito products available in different portion sizes.
“From the audit, training on portion control has helped see a reduction in vegetable portion waste, and increased trust savings. The audit is presented from apetito in a format that can also be shared with other departments within the trust, giving valuable insights for everyone.”
Team members at Pinderfields Hospital, part of Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, also reiterated these sentiments and highlighted the benefits for its workforce:
“From the feedback from staff, the training provided for our Catering assistants and housekeepers was received very well - with great knowledge and interaction.
“The waste audits have proved a valuable tool not only to focus on the waste side but identify areas of improvement within our team.”
Neil Hargreaves, General Manager of Healthcare at apetito is extremely proud of the initial results seen through this initiative, saying:
“As the first initiative of its kind within the NHS, this project has highlighted the urgent need for better food waste management while fostering greater awareness and understanding among staff. By delivering tangible sustainability benefits and substantial cost savings, it has demonstrated that meaningful progress is achievable in a short time.”
“Whilst these initial results are extremely promising and show brilliant progress, the bigger picture suggests that these types of bespoke audits could make a staggering difference if rolled out across the whole NHS estate.
“At apetito, we’re in a unique position to deliver a tailored approach to each hospital site through our dedicated Training and Operations team. By collaborating closely with on-site staff, we make sure a deep understanding and address every detail throughout the catering process – suggesting even small changes in process that can make a real difference to waste reduction.”
*Based on an Acute Hospital with 32 wards