To ask the Minister of Health whether his Department is implementing any measures to prevent food waste in buildings used by his Department or its arm's-length bodies.

The Department of Health, based in Castle Buildings, Stormont Estate takes a number of measures to prevent food waste, as follows:

Fridges and microwaves are available to allow appropriate storage and reheating of food by staff;

Where catering is necessary for external events or meetings, care is taken to ensure the minimum amount required is ordered; and

Food waste is collected and repurposed through anaerobic digestion into fertilizer or biogas by the NICS waste management contractor.

Whilst best endeavours are taken to avoid wastage by Health and Social Care Trusts(HSCTs), food production will naturally incur additional wastage as the exact number and type of meals required versus the number of meals ordered varies in a dynamic hospital environment i.e. through unpredictable admission and discharge numbers. The following measures, to prevent food waste, are being implemented across each HSCT.

South Eastern HSCT

Measures are taken to avoid food wastage at procurement, storage, preparation, ordering and post service stages, specifically -

Menu choices and portion sizes are coded by dieticians, this is to ensure patients receive a nutritionally balanced meal and avoid malnourishment. In units where bulk frozen meals are used, choices are ordered in small and large pack sizes to match the number of meals requested, and thus reduce the number of individual portions wasted.

Where possible, vegetables are purchased pre-prepared, this reduces the risk of food poisoning, but also reduces food production waste. Stock is rotated to ensure First In First Out approach is taken.

Meals are ordered as close to service time as possible (1 meal ahead) to reduce plate waste and they are currently exploring electronic bedside ordering, which will refine this process further.

Belfast HSCT

The catering department have robust processes in place that allows staff to only order the amount of food that is required giving careful consideration to perishables. Menu reviews and food waste audits are also conducted on a regular basis and systems such as Saffron are used to help manage menus, recipes and stock control which assists in minimising the risk of waste.

Southern HSCT

A Quality Improvement Project Group has recently been established to review and improve all hospital patient meal ordering processes and to progress the implementation of an electronic meal ordering system to reduce food wastage.

Western HSCT

Electronic bedside meal ordering has been implemented, in partnership with nursing staff, where patients are shared a visual image of the meals on offer and more recently a very successful “Lighter Lunch” initiative which was designed with input from dietetics and service users.

In addition, the Trust’s Catering Team continue to seek feedback from patients and clients on their menus which in turn supports ongoing changes/improvements.

Northern HSCT

Food wastage is monitored on the Saffron catering system and electronic tablets are used to order and supply patient meals which reduces the number of ad-hoc meal requests. Catering staff have also been trained on portion control with standardised serving utensils in all areas, so all portions are produced the same. Patient menus are reviewed to reduce wastage.

Food stocks are also monitored with date checks throughout the week in the catering areas to highlight any food that may be approaching its best before date. This is supported by food waste audits audits. The trust is working with the Estates Waste management team to explore potential solutions/technology to reduce the amount of food waste across the Trust.