150,000 meals binned

Almost 150,000 hospital meals ended up in the bin, it has been revealed.

Last year (2007-08), Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which includes Rochdale Infirmary, prepared 1,956,133 meals for patients.

But 7.66%, or 149,808, were thrown away, according to figures from the House of Commons library, which provides research and analysis for MPs.

During the previous year (2006-07), 9.46% of the 1,951,864 meals for the Trust were wasted. Nationally in 2007-08, a total of 8.2% of all meals were thrown away.

Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust was the worst, having to bin 43% of its meals.

A spokesman for Pennine Acute Trust, which runs three other hospitals in Oldham, Bury and North Manchester, said: “Our staff work very hard to make sure food is not wasted and this can be seen in the reduction from the previous year. There are a number of reasons why food has to be discarded, it could be that a patient is too ill to eat or a patient might have been discharged.

“Discarding unused food obviously has a heavy financial impact on the Trust, so we work hard to monitor and record the waste every week to ensure it is kept to a minimum.”

A Department for Health spokesman said the national percentage of untouched or unserved meals had been steadily falling.