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POLL of the DAY (76): FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

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16 Mar 2015 43 Respondents
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Amanda Lees
AUT Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences
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POLL of the DAY (76): FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

News from the UK reveals that 'A Greggs bakery based in an NHS hospital is the fast-food chain's second busiest outlet in Britain. 

The counter at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton is often so busy selling steak bakes, bacon rolls and pizzas that ropes have to be used to separate queues of hungry customers which can reach 20 people deep.

Greggs, which has flourished on the high street over the last decade and has more than 1,600 shops, would not reveal which of its outlets was the busiest. 

But David Loughton, chief executive of Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals, said he had heard on good authority that the bakery at the hospital was the chain's second busiest.  

Mr Loughton told the Daily Star Sunday: 'There is a cafe in site that sells all healthy food but it gets nowhere near the footfall that Greggs gets. 

'You can understand the appeal. It is relatively cheap.' 

The chain sells a range of sandwiches, pies and pasties - such as the cheese and bacon wrap, a chicken fajita slice, and beef and vegetable pasties - ranging from 300 calories to almost 600.

The hospital trust has joined forces with Wolverhampton Council to tackle the obesity crisis locally. 

But Mr Loughton said banning the chain from the site would not solve anything. 

He said: 'People say 'ban the fast-food places' but I don't think that will ever work. We have to change people's mentality regarding the food they eat.'

New Cross is not the only NHS hospital to include a fast-food outlet. 

Addenbrooke's in Cambridge operates a food court with a Burger King, Costa Coffee, Starbucks and pizzeria, and University Hospital Southampton Foundation trust, also hosts a Burger King and a Costa Coffee shop.' Read the article in full here:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2995944/Hospital-patients-visitors-accused-eating-pies-boss-medical-centre-claims-Greggs-outlet-bakery-firm-s-second-busiest-shop.html

Do hospitals have a duty to serve healthy food? Does this duty only apply to food served to patients or to all food sold on its premises? Who should decide what sort of food can be bought and eaten in a hospital?

What do you think?

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It is proposed that there should be restrictions on the type of food sold in public areas within hospitals