Nick Gillespie, the man in charge of the kitchens at Chesterfield Hospital, talks to Facilities Business about the challenge of feeding doctors, nurses, patients and their visitors
Q: Tell me about the hospital and the people you are responsible for feeding.
A:
Chesterfield Hospital is a large acute hospital in Derbyshire. At any one time we have around 570 patients here, who we have to cater for three times a day. In addition, we also have some 2,000 to 3,000 staff and patients coming through the hospital daily, who want meals and refreshments.

Q: So what sort of service do you offer to patients?
A:
Patients have breakfast, a light evening meal and their main meal in the middle of the day. This will comprise fruit juice or soup to start and yoghurt or ice cream for pudding, with three options at main course. We run the patients' menu on a two-weekly cycle — that means that no dish is repeated within 14 days.

Q: What are patients' favourite dishes?
A:
They seem to love the Sunday roast. And pies go down really well too.

Q: What are the challenges with patient feeding?
A:
Everyone knows we have to work within tight budgets. But the biggest challenge is making sure that the food arrives on the wards hot and fresh. To ensure that, we send it in hot trolleys, set at 90°C, and I set a 15-minute time limit from it leaving the kitchen to getting to the ward.

Q: Do you get many complaints from patients?
A:
No. The ward hostesses, who serve the food to patients, collect questionnaires from them and most comments we get are positive. Honestly.

Q: What about catering for staff and visitors?
A:
The Links restaurant is a buffet-style operation. It has a deli bar serving baguettes, a salad bar and a hot counter.

Q: What do the doctors and nurses like to eat?
A:
Because of the long hours they work, many of them eat their main meal. Popular options are fillet of plaice filled with salmon mousse in white wine sauce, and braised beef with root vegetables.

Q: How much do staff and visitors pay for food?
A:
Baguettes range in price from £1.50 to £2.45 and hot meals, such as the plaice dish, are £1.75.

Q: Is this an in-house operation?
A:
No, it's run by Sodexho under a 10-year contract — there are around six years left to go. Annual turnover of the contract is £1.7m.