A view from our teams: Nasrin Ahmed – assistant catering manager
Naz manages catering services and oversees the day-to-day delivery of the inpatient meals at both the Royal South Hants and the Western Community hospitals, as well as the Restaurant at WCH, which means she works across both sites and has a great insight into what is needed to effectively manage food provision for the new building.
How will the new building affect what you do?
Naz said: “I am looking forward to when the wards move to the WCH because we will be able to manage the patient meals service from a purpose built regen kitchen, which will help our hosts with planning their daily routines effectively. Nutrition and Hydration is a large part of the wellbeing rehabilitation of the patient and the kitchens located on the ward itself will ensure that the meals and drinks are provided efficiently.
“The move will be beneficial for the catering team also, as we will have more control over any repairs when issues with ventilation, lighting, and drainage come up, thanks to the Solent maintenance teams. At the RSH we must use a third party, which can be difficult at times.”
Will being co-located change how you work as a catering team?
“This is a positive for our staff, as we will to be able to support our teams with face-to-face training and team briefs in large group on onsite.
The Western will be busier, and this will be an impact on how we order and the delivery frequencies. As we already have a working kitchen at the WCH, we may be able to adapt to certain patient diet requirements that may not had been possible as we did not have the resources on the RSH site, so, this will be a positive change.
“Being on one site also means we can react quickly to situations that may occur. There will be extra supervision onsite, and staff will be able to work and cover shifts across all wards.
We envisage the restaurant to be busier with the extra staff and visitors on site too, and there will be factors we need to review to respond to this.”
What have you thought about the project?
“We have been kept informed with every step of the building process the team seeks our advice about kitchen equipment and things like that. I share these updates with my team, so everyone knows what to expect, and we have all been invited on the site tours. We are looking forward to seeing the finished kitchen!”
What are you most looking forward to when the new building opens?
“We already have a good relationship with the ward staff at the RSH and we are looking forward to opening the catering focus group we have there to the other wards at the Western. We use this group to discuss everything from the quality of the food to delivery service and it will be beneficial to bring more wards into this feedback forum. Understanding that food can have a significant impact on how a patient is feeling, we strive to make improvements wherever we can.”