Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food.

No specific assessment has been made. NHS England published updated NHS Food Standards on the 3 November 2022 and are considering the best way to measure the effectiveness of improvements as a result of those standards. No assessment has been made to date on many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food how many NHS trusts have a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.

Trusts will be asked to self-declare its implementation status within NHS England’s internal reporting mechanisms, which will ask for the names of the board representative, catering dietetic liaison and food safety specialist. Data will be collected statistically through the Estates Return Information Collection and hospital food will also be included as part of the assessment by local people of service quality through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment from late 2023.