Food services trends in New South Wales hospitals, 1993–2001

Abstract

A survey of the food service departments in 93 hospitals throughout NSW Australia (covering 51% of hospital beds in the state) was conducted using a mailed questionnaire and the results compared with those from similar surveys conducted in 1986 and 1993. Over the past eight years there has been a significant increase in the proportion of hospitals using cook‐chill food service production systems, from 18% in 1993 to 42% in 2001 (P < 0.001). Hospitals with cook‐chill systems had better staff ratios than those with cook‐fresh systems (8.3 vs. 6.4 beds/full time equivalent staff; p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in the ratio of meals served per FTE. There was no difference between public and private hospitals in terms of ratios of beds or meals to food service staff. Managers using cook‐chill systems reported significantly lower levels of satisfaction with the food service system compared to those using cook‐fresh. Two aspects of the services have not changed since the last survey: approximately a quarter of food service departments are still managed by staff without formal qualifications and meal times remain the same, with more than 90% of hospitals serving the evening meal before 5.30 p.m. and a median of 14.25 h gap between the evening meal and breakfast.

Cost efficiency modeling in health care foodservice operations

“…This might be a better option than a complete shift toward a new system due to the savings that could occur in the area of capital cost. The result of the cook-chill system is also promising, in line with previous studies by Light and Walker (1990), Clark (1997) and Mibey and Williams (2002), and it also supports theories by Synder (1983) and Stewart (1985) who stressed the importance of cook-chill production systems to increase productivity. The result, however, is not consistent with those from the study by Greathouse (1987) which found, that managers of traditional and cook-chill systems are employing similar resources to achieve their objectives.…”

Foodservice perspective in institutions

“…In particular the evening meals are usually served quite early, so there can be a long period of time overnight without food. In two Australian surveys in 1993 and 2001 it was reported most hospitals began serving the breakfast meal between 7am and 8am, the midday meal was served between 12.00 noon to 12.30pm, and the evening meal times were spread over two and a half hours from 3.30pm to 6.00pm with most meal service being between 5.00pm and 5.30pm (Mibey and Williams, 2002). Similar meal times can be seen in hospitals in the US and the UK.…”

“…They can be an important occasion at which to increase the nutritional intake of vulnerable clients who may have poor appetites and they can provide more than a quarter of the daily energy intake of patients (Walton et al, 2007). One Australian survey found that most hospitals regularly provided patients with three midmeals: 98% served morning tea, 99% served afternoon tea, and 95% served supper, and 19% even offered a pre-breakfast early morning hot beverage (Mibey and Williams, 2002).…”

Improving the accuracy of DEA efficiency analysis: a bootstrap application to the health care foodservice industry

“…A study by the NSW Health Department in 1996, for example, indicated that only 78% foodservice managers in NSW are qualified at all. Mibey and Williams (2002) also assessed the qualification of the head of the foodservice department in NSW hospitals. Their results showed that 60% of managers were without formal qualification in the smaller hospitals (5100 beds) and only 44% of managers had qualifications in larger hospitals.…”