FEATURE
Food For Thought
Providing good nutrition is vital in any care setting. In hospices, where many residents are often ill and off their food, care providers need to get creative at meal times. At St Christopher’s Hospice, Host Management has taken inspiration from luxury hotels.
National caterer, Host Management, started working with St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham over nine years ago. During that time, a real sense of partnership and trust has developed between the two organisations. A hospice is a challenging environment to work in but one that fosters incredible team spirit and provides high levels of satisfaction to those involved.
St Christopher’s exists to promote and provide skilled and compassionate palliative care of the highest quality. Part of that care is the catering and hospitality service provided to patients, staff and visitors – and this is where Host Management comes in.
Up until five years ago, the catering service was essentially ward catering via hot trolleys. However, since 2009, when St Christopher’s opened
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its Anniversary Centre, the catering service has also included a coffee shop and other facilities. The Centre, a £2.5 million development opened to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the hospice, provides a social centre, all- day café, consultation rooms, bathing suite, rehabilitation gym, hairdressing salon and day care facilities.
Nigel Hartley, Director of Supportive Care at St Christopher’s, has always believed that catering and hospitality play an important role in a hospice and was very keen that the Anniversary Centre café became a hub for the community.
He explained: “One of our aims is to change public perceptions associated with hospices and dying, so when we had the opportunity to open this café, we wanted to make sure it involved
the community too and could act as a hub for local people to get involved.
“We have a weekly programme to encourage the local community into the building, which includes curry and pizza nights, a community choir and a ‘Death Chat’ group. The primary role is to provide a service to patients, family members, bereaved people and visitors, but the café actively encourages local people to use it too. For patients and their visitors, it also helps make their experience as normal and comfortable as possible.”
The café is open all day from 8am in the morning until 10pm in the evening, serving breakfast, lunch and tea and the focus is on healthy, fresh and seasonal café-style food. Sundays are also a special day when patients, family and friends can enjoy
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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