Hospital food bill - Patients fed on the cheap

Anyone who has paid for a stay in hospital will be aware of the astronomical cost of a bed.

Costs in public wards are soaring too, well beyond the rate of inflation.

None of this great expenditure will guarantee that you are fed well in hospital. Figures published today show that some hospitals are spending as little as €2.03 on food to prepare meals for chronically ill patients.

Nobody goes to hospital expecting to enjoy five-star dining but raw materials in this price bracket, more or less the same as premium pet food, do not suggest that the kind of diet needed to restore someone to full health is readily available in all of our hospitals.

Surely, this is ultimately counterproductive and, surely, there are better ways to cut costs?