This was reported by TV news, rightly, as disgraceful.

What people eat when in hospital affects their recovery and the length of time they need to spend in hospital. Nurses do not appear to know this, so their education is clearly deficient. Nurses have only one function and that is to care for patients. If they “do not have time” to feed patients, they are failing in their duty of care to patients who are unable to feed themselves. “Lack of time” cannot be the reason for this failure. It is more likely to be that 9 out of 10 nurses appear to be incapable of prioritising their time effectively.  The remaining 1 out of 10 are angels and should be congratulated. A few hospitals have implemented a red tray or red napkin scheme to identify patients who need help to feed themselves. Such schemes are to be applauded. But, to date, these are the exception rather than the rule. A friend visiting an elderly relative in hospital recently, told me that, no matter when she went to the ward, nurses were all sitting in a central area, chatting to each other,  unable to see the patients and thus did not know whether patients needed help.

The Better Hospital Food programme was set up a year ago, in order to improve food provided to patients. But what good is this, if patients who are physically unable to feed themselves are given no help to eat the food?

I attended a lecture, given by a Nutrition Professor, 30 years ago, where this problem was highlighted. Apparently, food was brought to patients and then a short while later, trays were taken away. In some cases, the food had not been touched.  Some patients had been unable to feed themselves, yet nobody helped them.   What has changed in 30 years?  Not a lot.