Anglia Crown & ISS showcase patient catering with nationwide hospital roadshow

To celebrate the new contract between Anglia Crown and ISS Facility Services Healthcare, a nationwide pop-up roadshow showcasing patient catering was devised.

Over two months, thousands of staff and visitors at 15 sites across the UK sampled the award- winning patient food.

The roadshows proved extremely popular with attendees being impressed by the quality of the meals and vast choice patients are provided with. Enabling staff and visitors to taste first-hand the quality of food helped provide an open forum in which to discuss the patient menu and processes behind creating it.

Each event showcased a selection of food from Anglia Crown including Crown Choice flexible multi-portion range and Crown Advantage individual frozen meals. Anglia Crown also have a new finger food range; developed to help support people with dementia and other patient groups who struggle to use cutlery.

Hot food sampled included an award-winning beef lasagne; chicken korma; shepherd’s pie and vegan vegetable & bean chilli. Visitors were also able to try a range of hot and cold desserts such as sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and a chocolate fudge cake.

Events gained high level support with several chief executives and senior teams at hospitals in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Kent, Yorkshire, Suffolk, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, Surrey and the West Midlands attending.

Tracy Rawcliffe, general manager, Calderdale Royal Hospital, noted, “The Anglia Crown Roadshow held at Calderdale was a great success. It provided an opportunity for our patient catering service to be showcased and for staff, patients and visitors to sample the food which received excellent feedback. The stand in the main entrance attracted a number of customers and they were happy to enter the regional dish competition.

“Overall this was a positive experience for everyone and has helped raise the profile of patient catering around the site and provided reassurance for any potential patient that they will be well fed whilst in hospital.”

In line with Anglia Crown and ISS Healthcare’s vision to drive excellence in patient catering, visitors were asked to suggest a favourite dish they would like to see on the patient menu.

From this feedback, and working closely with ISS Healthcare, Anglia Crown will go on to develop the most requested dish and place it on the patient menu. Engagement with the recipe challenge was extremely strong, with more than 1,000 entries given.

Paul Howell, head of commercial at Anglia Crown, said, “The roadshow events have proved immensely popular and we have received some incredibly positive feedback.
“They have provided a fantastic opportunity to engage with visitors and staff, at hospitals from London to Glasgow, about the nutritional food being served to support patients in their recovery.

“It’s been great to see how much people enjoyed eating the food and we look forward to seeing what suggestions have been put forward for a new dish.”

He added, “At Anglia Crown, we recognise that consistency in the quality of food for patients is a crucial factor for hospitals, but we also understand the importance of developing new products to meet the ever-changing needs within healthcare catering.”

Chris Ash, managing director, ISS Healthcare, said, “The roadshows were well- received up and down the country and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it in action at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and then at the headquarters for ISS Healthcare in Weybridge.”

He added, “The feedback we have received has been excellent and we are looking forward to working with Anglia Crown to provide best in class patient meals to the hospitals we provide catering services to.”

Anglia Crown, which manufactures chilled and frozen prepared meals for the healthcare sector commenced a new five-year agreement with facility service provider ISS Healthcare, in a deal worth an estimated £30m.

As part of the contract, Anglia Crown will supply its meals to more than 20 ISS Healthcare operated sites.