Serving up five star facilities and equipment

The five-star award was given by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) after a full day’s unannounced inspection visit by a food hygiene expert.

This new scheme, replacing the old ‘stars’ system, is no longer run by local authorities, but is a national programme, ensuring that, wherever you go across the country, the same rigorous standards apply.

Inspectors look not just at the main kitchens at the hospital, but ward kitchens, personal hygiene of all those involved in the serving of food and all appropriate records – for example looking at buildings, food temperatures, cleaning rotas and delivery. The records are also checked against the actual practice to ensure that they match up.

Special assurance
This is all designed to provide the highest assurance to patients, visitors and carers that the best possible food hygiene is being practiced by the hospital. Anyone can now go on the Food Standards Agency website and see what their local hospital is like for food hygiene. This is a big step forward in both guaranteeing standards and ensuring transparency.

For all of these reasons, Jon Smith, catering manager at Musgrove Park Hospital, was absolutely thrilled when the facility attained the highest possible score from the expert inspectors. “It has been a long journey for us all, trying to provide a high quality retail and ward-based food service for our patients, visitors and staff. The new system is very strict and testing, and so it was particularly pleasing to get the highest score possible,” he said.

But what have Jon and his team changed in order to secure this achievement? He highlights four elements that have made a difference: monitoring, personal responsibility, training and involvement.

“We monitor rigorously. Check sheets are looked at and double-checked against the staff member signing to say they have carried out the work. If they sign for a job, they know they will be asked to prove that they’ve done it.

“Everyone takes a personal responsibility. You can’t simply insist on standards being imposed and acted upon. People need to understand that it is down to them. My staff take a great pride in their work and know that they can make a genuine difference to the patient experience – and that’s what motivates them. They are dedicated to providing the best that they can and this has created a real can-do culture among all the team.”

Jon continues: “Training helps with this. Every member of staff has a basic food hygiene certificate, and this includes all of the ward staff who are involved in food preparation and serving. We work closely with local colleges to provide the on the job training and theory that people need.

“And we work hard to involve people. We have a quarterly food safety group with representatives form the main kitchen, cleaning teams, dieticians, housekeepers and ward assistants as well as the main kitchen and restaurant staff. This group keeps a close eye on the statistics and looks to make sure that we keep moving in the right direction. We also have a Musgrove Partner on the group – a non staff member who has been a patient or a carer at the hospital who gives us an independent view on what we are doing.”
    
Two way communication
Linked to this, feedback is important and we encourage it from every source. Jon comments: “Every patient is given a ‘How Did We Do?’ card when they leave and they are encouraged to tell us what we got right and what we need to work on. And staff are always given every opportunity to tell us what they think about the work and what they have seen that we need to do more of. I lead the team brief in the kitchen every month and try to respond and act on suggestions wherever I can.

“We are very pleased but not complacent. The challenges of working in a building that has some parts dating back 60 years make sure of that. As we modernise the estate and see inevitable changes to how we provide healthcare, my team are determined to move with the times and improve hygiene practice and customer satisfaction. Watch this space!”

For more information
www.tsft.nhs.uk