By Angela Green: Ashford and St Peter’s hospital staff catering scores best in England.
Catering News is sponsored by Two Services
The catering team at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (ASPH) in Surrey has been rated best in the country by their colleagues at the Trust.
In the 2023 NHS Staff Survey, sent to more than 1.4million NHS workers across all trusts, 64% of staff working at ASPH positively responded to the question, ‘I can afford nutritious and affordable food while I am working’ – compared to a national average of nearly 54%.
The survey, run by NHS England, is one of the largest workforce surveys in the world and is carried out every year to improve staff experiences across the NHS.
In 2020, Ashford and St Peter’s brought staff catering in-house and engaged the services of consultancy Neller Davies to turn it around. In the space of two years, sales revenue more than doubled, and daily catering transactions tripled.
Neller Davies introduced a new approach to hospital staff catering inspired by a City of London corporate catering, undertaking a comprehensive staff engagement programme to change the mindset so that the catering team feel proud of what they do, are empowered to bring ideas to the table, and are keen to learn and do more.
As a result, ASPH staff have been treated to pop-ups, takeaway dishes, themed days, guest chef events, barbecues, and an ice-cream parlour, all initiated and led by a motivated catering team.
Following implementation of the new approach, satisfaction scores increased from 52% in 2020 to over 70% in 2022. And despite lowering prices by 15% to ensure all staff could afford tasty, nutritious meals onsite, average spend went up by over 20%.
Demand increased to the point where a new kitchen was built and opened in March 2022.
Following the success seen at ASPH, the Neller Davies team has been asked to replicate the model across several trusts and is already seeing similarly positive results elsewhere.
Eimear Jordan, facilities support services manager at ASPH, said: “We are extremely proud that our Trust colleagues have scored us as the best in the country for nutritious and affordable food whilst at work. This strengthens our motivation to ensure catering is the cornerstone of staff welfare and a great tool for the attraction and retention of talents across team ASPH.”
Simon Marshall, chief financial officer at ASPH, said: “Huge congratulations to our in-house catering team who have received the highest score across all trusts in this category in the 2023 Staff Survey. This is brilliant news and important for us celebrate here at ASPH. This is an amazing achievement and a real reflection of the dedication of the team who provide our staff with award winning food. Raouf, Eimear, Rachael, Chris and the team – we’re so pleased for you all! This is an incredible accomplishment, thank you for all of the work you do.”
Julian Fris, director, Neller Davies, added: “We’re thrilled that the ASPH team has received such glowing recognition for the hard work they put in every day to ensure their NHS colleagues have access to food that is both nutritious and delicious to ensure they can provide the best possible patient care.
“The NHS has the largest catering footprint in the UK and is beleaguered by a generally poor image, but this just shows that a change in mindset where customers are treated as guests who have their own needs and wants, can reap huge rewards.”
Catering News is sponsored by Two Services