The Catering team at Forth Valley Royal Hospital – including Scottish FM professional of the year, Anne Davidson – are set to appear in BBC Scotland’s ‘Landward’ this Friday 3 June showing how NHS Forth Valley, in partnership with catering provider Serco, is transforming hospital food with fresh, local produce which benefits patient care.

Presenter Sarah Mack will highlight each step of the process for the provision of patient food, by showing the in-house preparation of the 3,500 meals required by the Larbert hospital every day, using ingredients purchased from local suppliers where possible.

Fáilte Produce, Serco’s daily supplier of fresh fruit and vegetables will also feature in the BBC1 Scotland programme. Fáilte’s Director Jim Forsyth said: “All of our products have traceability and we document the journey of every item from source to being received by the hospital’s catering team, in a matter of hours in some cases, who then convert these ingredients into delicious, healthy meals.”

Ian Crichton, Serco’s Managing Director for Health commented: “Many people have heard negative stories about the quality of hospital food. This programme goes some way towards balancing that picture by showing how local hospitals in Forth Valley are providing meals that are not only nutritionally balanced but that taste good as well.

“NHS Forth Valley is committed to ensuring patients experience a high level of overall care and the food provided plays an important part. Wherever we can, we access the best quality produce from reliable, trustworthy local suppliers. Here in Scotland we are particularly fortunate in our options and we capitalise on this by sourcing 100% of fresh food from within 50 miles of Forth Valley Royal Hospital. If it is a while since you have last eaten in a hospital, you may be pleasantly surprised.

“We hope that this programme demonstrates the strong commitment from our staff in contributing to a positive patient experience as well as working closely with NHS Forth Valley’s dieticians to fully support their recovery.”

The feature will air as part of the ‘Landward’ programme on BBC1 Scotland at 8.30pm on Friday 3 June.

For more information, please contact:

Rosalind Baker

Tel: ++44 (0)7718 193 233

Email: rosalind.baker@serco.com