A Qualitative Study Exploring Hospital Food Waste From the Patient Perspective

Abstract

Objective: To study the perceptions, beliefs, and expectations of patients related to food waste during their hospital stay. Design: A qualitative study using semistructured interviews and thematic analysis of transcripts. Setting: Four hospital wards across 3 hospitals in 1 large health care network in Melbourne, Australia. Participants: Forty inpatients, 10 each from oncology, maternity, general medicine, and subacute wards. Analysis: A coding framework was developed by researchers; this framework was tested then applied across all interview transcripts. Codes were grouped and summarized to identify and analyze patterns of data. Results: Historical experiences influenced participant perspectives on food waste; cost was the primary motivator to limit food waste at home. The following contributors to hospital food waste were identified: patient interest in food/appetite, food quality and quantity, and the foodservice model. Three overarching strategies to address hospital food waste emerged: modify the foodservice system to decrease waste, adopt multimethod food waste management strategies, and reduce and manage nonfood waste. Contamination was identified as a barrier to waste management. Participants reported that the aggregate amount, management, and implications of hospital food waste were invisible to them. Conclusions and Implications: The inclusion of service users in both future studies and the practice of food sustainability is encouraged. Multiple approaches (system modification, multimethod food waste management strategies, and reduction of nonfood waste) could be adopted in practice to reduce hospital-related food waste.

Impact of room service on nutritional intake, plate and production waste, meal quality and patient satisfaction and meal costs: A single site pre‐post evaluation

“…Foodservice models that require large in-advance thawretherm meal preparation can contribute to significant waste, both in production and patient tray waste. 1,42 Room service prepares and delivers meals upon patient request only, ensuring that the patient is in bed and ready to eat, and receives meals specific to their individual requests within 45 min of ordering and so a reduction in production wastage figures may be expected for this model.…”

“…The hospital acute clinical environment is dynamic and rapidly changing with frequent changes in patient locations, clinical condition and associated dietary requirements, and absences from the bedside for treatment, procedures and therapy. Foodservice models that require large in‐advance thaw‐retherm meal preparation can contribute to significant waste, both in production and patient tray waste 1,42 . Room service prepares and delivers meals upon patient request only, ensuring that the patient is in bed and ready to eat, and receives meals specific to their individual requests within 45 min of ordering and so a reduction in production wastage figures may be expected for this model.…”

Healthy and Environmentally Sustainable Food Procurement and Foodservice in Australian Aged Care and Healthcare Services: A Scoping Review of Current Research and Training

“…Research studies investigating healthy and environmentally sustainable initiatives focused on food procurement [34][35][36], foodservice [3,[37][38][39][40], and both food procurement and foodservice [41,42].…”

“…Facilities also reduced food packaging and/or increased recycling [38,41], monitoring of food waste [40], and sharing audit results with staff [41]. Food waste management policies were developed [38,39,41,42], and food waste used to produce compost [3]. Finally, hospitals formed sustainability groups in hospitals supported by leadership [37], with engagement with local communities to share successes and learnings around environmental sustainability [36].…”

‘It's a constant changing environment, and we're just playing catch up’: Hospital food services, food waste, and COVID‐19

“… 11 Reasons leading to this volume of waste include; patient appetite, food quality and quantity, and food service model limitations such as ordering meals 24‐h prior to consumption. 12 This large amount of food waste is concerning as it contributes to the already significant volume of food waste disposed of to landfill, which results in the generation of significant greenhouse gas emissions (3% of Australia's annual emissions). 13 During heightened times of COVID‐19 outbreaks, rising patient numbers have created challenges for hospital food services to guarantee food supply and usual menu options, to forecast expected meal numbers, and measure waste levels accurately.…”