Councillor: Ross Memorial 'meals on wheels' shake-up is 'sad' news
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MEALS for patients at the Ross Memorial Hospital in Dingwall are to be transferred from Inverness under a new arrangement that will see closure of the kitchen in the country town and the redeployment of two members of the catering team.
The meals on wheels deal has been agreed by NHS Highland following an options appraisal after the Ross Memorial’s kitchen buildings were deemed no longer fit for purpose.
Options included refurbishment, relocation on site, using commercial cook freeze products and closing the kitchen and sourcing freshly cooked food from another kitchen facility.
From the end of March, food for the hospital will be transported in hotline bulk containers daily from Raigmore Hospital at lunchtime and teatime daily. This will then be transferred into hot trolleys on site and given to the patients by nursing staff, the same system, according to NHS Highland, which has been in use within the RNI in Inverness for 12 years.
The new system will provide an average of 57 patient meals daily for a maximum of 19 patients in Ross Memorial’s General Ward and Highland Rheumatology Unit.
An NHS Highland spokesperson said: “The catering service at Ross memorial Hospital has been the subject of a review because the kitchen buildings are no longer fit for purpose in terms of layout and cannot be structurally altered.”
The preferred option, agreed by South and Mid Operational Unit Management team in November, was to close the kitchen and provide meals from Raigmore. It is expected that this arrangement will be in place by the end of March 2015.
Only two of the four catering staff posts will be retained as ward-based catering assistants. The other two employees will be redeployed elsewhere.
An NHS Highland spokesperson said there had been no feedback from patients or patients’ groups about the plans.
Dingwall and Seaforth councillor Angela MacLean admitted she was surprised by the announcement. She said: “I think they should have let somebody know they were going to do this — I suppose they will look at it as operational.”
She added: “I think its very sad they are going to be moving these jobs out of the Ross Memorial Hospital. I remember when they made the food in Conon school and transferred it to Maryburgh the pupils there would complain that by the time it got there it would be either all mushy – or it wasn’t as satisfying because it wasn’t made on the premises.
“It is very important for recovering patients – the closer you make the food to the patients the better.”
