The Christie Charity
The Christie catering team are the winners of The Christie’s You Made a Difference Award for April 2023. The following comments were made about the catering team in the April nominations.
Judges picked the team out as very deserving winners and said that the comments made about them showed how they represent The Christie principles and behaviours.
“The in-house catering team recently scored 100% in the National PLACE (Patient Led Assessments of the Care Environment). This was the top score in the country, and we are the only Trust to achieve this result.
“The PLACE Assessment was carried out by patient assessors and staff in September 2022 to assess the environment and included food, cleanliness, condition and appearance of the building, dementia, accessibility, privacy and dignity.
“We scored very highly in all categories but better than all other sites for our ward food testing. The assessors watched the patient lunch service on 2 wards and observed the presentation, portion size, and variety of menu and viewed the 3-week menu cycle which details all the special dietary options available and describes our robust allergen management process.
“The assessors sampled all the dishes on the menu including soup, a choice of hot main meals with selection of vegetables, salads, and sandwiches. The hot dessert of the day and a variety of cold options were also tasted with all agreeing that the menu was very tasty, good temperature, appetising and delicious to eat.
“Our patients are able to choose their meals at point of service, and we can therefore accommodate changes with patient's taste buds and portion sizes so that they are not over-faced and can be tempted to eat as part of their treatment.
“The catering department operate as a team, kitchen, and front of house, and they show flexibility to provide in-patient catering and day case catering service to wards and departments and our restaurant and coffee shop service open for patients, staff and visitors.
“The kitchen and restaurant team provide a total catering service for the patients, visitors and staff at The Christie. From the menu planning, delivery of daily fresh produce, storage, production, and service of the meals, our catering colleagues go out of their way to ensure that any individual dietary needs for patients are delivered. The wards and departments are supplied with everything they need to ensure the patients receive the best possible support in their road to recovery.
“If a patient requests something that is not on the menu, the chefs will go up to the ward and meet with the patient to find out what they would like and do their best to accommodate preferences, whilst ensuring that we work within any allergen restrictions.
“Our catering staff always go above and beyond to make the inpatients’ stay here at The Christie as pleasant as possible. This is something that they pride themselves on and they consistently show great teamwork from front of house service serving meals and coffees, the catering stores and preparation staff, to feeding the patients at ward level. They always show care, compassion and humility when dealing directly with patients and it takes the whole team to achieve this.
“On a personal note, I am very proud to have managed the catering service onsite over the last 34+ years and see daily the effort and commitment made by the department staff at every level. They all hugely deserve to be recognised for the service provided often in challenging circumstance. We hope that the service will continue to go from strength to strength.
