Sustainable catering

We will enable more sustainable catering at our hospital sites through a food and retail transformation programme which maps sustainability from farm-to-plate. This includes reviewing our supply chains, increasing plant-based and locally sourced products and reducing waste generated from food packaging.

Sustainable food working group

In 2024 , we established our sustainable food working group. Supported by the green team, the group is formed of staff, including dieticians and other passionate clinical staff, who want to reduce the carbon footprint of the food we serve to on our in-patient wards, and reduce the amount of processed meat we serve.

Inpatient menu design

Our dieticians have re-structured the Trust in-patient food menus to place vegan and vegetarian meals at the top of the menu, followed by meat options. The re-structure is designed to help patients to consider plant-based alternatives, without reducing menu choice. On our long-stay inpatient menus, more sustainable meal options such as venison stew has been added.

Further reading and inspiration

• Healthcare without harm: fresh, healthy, and sustainable food – best practices in European healthcare
• Healthcare without harm: a circular economy of food in healthcare
• King’s Fund: sustainable food and the NHS
• Public Health England toolkit for serving food to adults
• Making prepared meals healthier and more sustainable
• Personalisation in mitigating food waste and cost in hospitalisation