From the NHS list of hospitals I gathered that you have about 521 beds at the Good Hope Hospital, is that still correct? We have512 beds at Good Hope Hospital.

On the NHS list I have seen that the Heartlands Hospital has about 790 beds. We have 781 beds at Heartlands Hospital. We also have 212 beds at Solihull Hospital.

From that same list I have seen that provide in-house meals from a central production unit in a cook chill way, please correct me if I’m wrong here?  

The meals for the Trust are cooked from fresh at the Central Production Unit kitchen based at Solihull system using the Cook – Chill method; they are then transported to feed patients at Heartlands, Good Hope & Solihull Hospitals.

Now my follow-up questions from this are:

-Whether your site offers bulk or plated service?

Bulked – the meals are sent to the wards in containers usually containing 4 or 6 portions. The food is heated at ward level and served from the containers to the patients

      – Do you use plastic or china cutlery and plates?           

o   China plates are used for main meals and sweets unless there is a specific requirement to use either paper or plastic.

– When it comes to your purchasing process in the catering sector, do you have a centralized system with a purchasing department or are the individual people allowed to make their orders themselves (up to a certain limit)?

We purchase the products from reputable suppliers who are registered with the NHS Supply chain which means they have been approved to supply to the NHS. Standard orders are raised using a bespoke software package which is linked to the menu and cook chill production cycle. Each department will have an annual budget and expenditure is monitored on a monthly basis. Managers can authorise orders according to the Trust’s standing financial Instructions.

o   Centralized system

o   Decentralized system

– Do you get your information about the products you need from your go-to manufacturer, your local dealer, your hospital’s purchasing department, the internet or a price list you own?

Each product we buy from our suppliers (food) will generally have a product specification detailing ingredient breakdown, nutritional value and allergen information etc. We will request this information for each product which is then entered onto our central database.

o   Manufacturer

o   Dealer

o   Purchasing department

o   Internet

o   Price list

o   Others:  ____________________________

– Are those who you get your information from the ones you also buy from or do you use a different authority for that?

The information is obtained from each individual supplier

• Manufacturer

• Dealer
• Purchasing department
• Internet
• Price list
• Others:  ____________________________

– Last but not least would it be possible to get the contact details of your catering manager (as in first and surname, phone number and email address)?

Gary Jones, Trust Catering Manager

gary.jones@heartofengland.nhs.uk

0121 424 2000

All of the above information relates to the three hospital sites – Good Hope, Heartlands and Solihull.