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18
Mar
Harrogate hospital defends selling unhealthy food in vending machines
The trust which runs Harrogate District Hospital has defended serving unhealthy food in its vending machines.
According to a freedom of information request by the Stray Ferret, the hospital, which is run by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, sells sweets, chocolate and crisps in machines on site.
Sustain, a food charity which campaigned for healthier food in hospitals, said NHS trusts must use their positions to serve fresh, nutritious and healthy meals
But Harrogate hospital said its “less healthy” options were only a small section of its catering service and were in line with NHS guidelines.
It follows our revelation yesterday that North Yorkshire Council has made £90,000 from the sale of junk food and fizzy drinks at leisure centres in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough.
Unhealthy food
The Stray Ferret asked the hospital trust if it could provide information on how many vending machines it operated, what products it sold and how much it made from its machines over the last three years.
In its response, the hospital said it made £32,937.78 from 15 vending machines at its Harrogate site.
Ripon Community Hospital has no vending machines.
The machines included:
- 4 selling hot drinks
- 4 selling snacks such as protein bars, confectionery, crisps and other savoury items
- 4 selling water and sugar-free cold drinks
- 3 selling both snacks and water/ cold drinks
The hospital trust told us that its products were in line with NHS voluntary guidance set by NHS England's Commissioning for Quality and Innovation framework .
The guidance says that a minimum of 80% of drinks stocked must have less than 5g of added sugar per 100ml and a minimum of 80% of confectionery and sweets must not exceed 250 kcal per servicing.
NHS trusts should promote good food
Simon Stevens, former NHS England chief executive, pledged in September 2015 to ensure staff and patients were offered healthy options in vending machines.
Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of the food and farming charity Sustain, which ran a Campaign for Better Hospital Food, told the Stray Ferret that NHS trusts should use their position to ensure that “good food really matters”.
She said:
Hospital vending machines, shops and canteens should not be used to promote junk food and sugary drinks to patients and their visitors.
Ms Dalmeny added:
Good food is central to recovery, disease prevention and to long and healthy lives.
NHS hospitals must use their trusted position to serve fresh, nutritious and healthy meals, set standards for the vending machines and shops on their premises and convey the clear message that good food really matters.
'We are reviewing potential funding for this area'
The Stray Ferret asked the trust how it justified selling unhealthy products in its vending machines.
A spokesperson said:
The less healthy snacks form a small part of our overall catering service, most of which is staffed and offers a wide range of items enabling customers to uphold a balanced diet. Service users and staff are on site 24 hours per day and need to have access to food.
Therefore we would like to operate the staffed service 24 hours per day, however this would not be financially viable and so would take vital funds away from other budgets.
It added:
Similarly, vending machines which sell fresh or frozen food are expensive to run and therefore we aim for the ambient snack range to be as healthy as possible (as per previous response). However we are currently reviewing potential funding for this area.
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