Meet the team from County Hospital who feed almost 20,000 patients a month

Hospital food has come a long way since Ruth Smith started her career at County Hospital.

The Catering Co-ordinator has worked at the hospital for 32 years and we spoke to us about her career so far.

“In my role I manage the restaurant and look after the staff who work there. I started 32 years ago, working six hours a week on a weekend.”

“I enjoy working here, we’ve got a really good team. We have ups and downs like everybody does, but we work as a team to get the best possible service out there.”

“It’s like a family. Because you’re in work more than you’re at home, it’s important that you’ve got a good working relationship, and everybody supports one another.”

“Nightingales offers a nice, healthy meal in a warm and inviting atmosphere where patients and staff can get away from whatever their clinical stresses are and enjoy their meal in a welcoming environment.”

“As well as serving meals to staff and visitors in the restaurant, we look after patient catering, producing 18,000 meals a month in-house for areas including wards, the Chemotherapy Unit and also for AGE UK which is based nearby on Weston Road.”

“All food is cooked fresh on site in our central processing unit. We get patient orders electronically before picking and packing them and then they go straight out to patients.”