08.08.2017

How our dietitians improve catering in private healthcare

Nutritious meals promote recovery

There’s one thing that every patient across the UK has in common, whether resting a broken bone or fighting off an infection — they all need the right nutrients to aid them on the road to recovery.

You can have the best medical professionals working at your private healthcare organisation and the most advanced treatments, but sub-optimal patient nutrition will slow down healing.

That’s why we place dietetic expertise at the centre of our patient dining service, investing time and effort into finding the ideal professionals to provide the very best nutritional guidance to our chefs and your hospital. 

Highly-qualified experts, ready to work with you

All our dietitians are fully-accredited and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, unlike people who style themselves as nutritionists. As registered dietitians, our team are subject to a strict code of conduct and undertake continuing professional development. This means that their menu recommendations are always based on robust scientific evidence, rather than the latest trends. And their knowledge is always at the forefront of medical discovery.

Meet the Medirest dieticians

Central to our dietetic team are several award-winning dietitians dedicated to creating the best menus and meals for patients across the UK. It’s a pleasure to introduce:

• Helen Ream — specialist in nourishing seniors living in care homes.
• Maxine Cartz — our leading expert in hospital patient care.
• Lisa Baker — head of our initiative to nurture health and wellbeing for staff and visitors to healthcare settings.

Behind the scenes with our dietitians

There’s no such thing as an average day for our dietitians; their role is broad and varied — and they have to be ready to contribute in whatever way is required. Underpinning the nutrition that supports health can involve so many situations. Here’s a taste of what our team deliver…

Developing menus that meet the needs of private healthcare settings 

Our dietitians work closely to advise food-buying teams on the nutritional needs of patients, staff and visitors, and explore how their recommendations can be used most creatively with our chefs.

A role beyond dietary recommendations

Our dietetic team embrace responsibilities beyond the strict parameters of their role, to support catering managers. They’re always on hand to answer any queries or individual requests — as well as helping managers to set out operational policies and meet national guidelines.

Hands-on experience in the hospital environment

Our dietitians recognise that every healthcare setting has its own individual requirements and ethos, and so you can frequently find them out and about, visiting healthcare facilities. They’re firm believers in getting involved in the front line of healthcare, providing training and helping teams identify areas where they could improve their practices.

Improving the patient experience

Our dietitians are a popular presence among the diverse range of teams they work with — and their time is often at a premium. This is because people either receiving or providing care in private healthcare facilities appreciate the effort and expertise they bring to the patient experience.

The contribution of our dietetic team makes a palpable difference to our patient dining services and, once they’ve experienced the difference having a fully-trained expert at the forefront of UK dietetic policy at their disposal — they never go back.

Dietetics at the core of outstanding hospital dining

Our white paper, ‘How outsourcing can improve healthcare in private hospitals’, should be your first port of call to find out more about the whole Medirest Signature offering - CLICK HERE. And if you’ve got any questions, just get in touch.