Hospital food recipes by James Martin and Stephen Terry
Celebrity chefs James Martin and Stephen Terry have helped draw up a list of recipes for hospital meals, under Welsh government nutrition plans.
Saturday Kitchen star Martin and Abergavenny-based Terry have backed a list of 92 different dishes. The recipes - 18 soups, 38 main course items and 42 desserts and snacks - are set to be available on wards by March. Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said: "Food should be viewed with the same importance as medication." The hospital food makeover aims to offer patients a choice of "tasty choices which can address individual nutritional requirements," the Welsh government said. The two chefs each have signature dishes on the list which will be on a database available to all hospitals. Martin previously improved menus at his home town hospital in Scarborough for the BBC TV series Operation Hospital Food. For the Welsh menus, he focused on soups, submitting recipes for butternut squash and lime, and cauliflower and apple. He said: "I really feel that food is a medicine. Patients should look forward to meal times as one of the highlights of their day. "So I was delighted to be invited by the health minister to get involved in such a brilliant project that will instantly benefit so many patients." Martin worked with an NHS team based at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, where fellow chef Terry owns and runs a restaurant, the Hardwick. Terry, who appeared on BBC TV's Great British Menu, won a Michelin star while head chef at another Abergavenny restaurant, The Walnut Tree. His signature dish for the NHS recipe list was lamb shoulder and potato pie. He said: "I am very proud to have been able to contribute to such an important and essential initiative." Public Health Wales consultant dietician Judith John, who chaired the group which drew up the recipe list, said: ''Everyone has had a role: caterers, dieticians, procurement and now it's to time start implementing it and engaging more with nursing, ward staff and patients to get feedback. "This is really only phase one of a continual process for developing a quality food service for the hospital population of Wales using a menu framework with standardised recipes and methods, which have all been nutritionally analysed to meet the required standards.'' Launching the All Wales Hospital Menu Framework, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said: "Hospital food is an essential part of patient care. "Good food can encourage patients to eat well, giving them the nutrients they need to recover from surgery or illness. "Standardising the food on offer so patients are assured of good food, wherever they are treated, will help them back to health and improve their experience of hospital greatly. "Having tasted some of the dishes on offer, I believe the old jokes about hospital food will soon become a thing of the past." In 2011, the auditor general reported that hospital catering in Wales was improving but more needed to be done to ensure patients got the right "nutritional care".