Infirmary named in food hygiene report

Rochdale Infirmary

The Rochdale Infirmary has been named in a report on food hygiene standards in UK hospitals.

The report had found that catering staff at the Infirmary had handed out warm sandwiches to patients.

In a statement to Rochdale Online, Pam Stansfield, Head of Catering at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The findings and issues raised in an inspection report by Rochdale Council last year in February 2011 have been addressed and resolved regarding pre-packed sandwiches. We have also reduced the shelf life of sandwiches from 3 days to 2 days with the sandwich manufacturer.”

Earlier this month, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which operates the Infirmary offered what it calls ‘Behind the scenes’ tours at North Manchester General Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital ant The Royal Oldham Hospitals Catering Departments.

541 out of 730 hospitals visited by inspectors were found to be flouting food hygiene regulations.

Up to 300,000 cases of infections are believed to have been caused by animal infestation and poor catering cleanliness in hospitals with out of date food being served in more than 1 in 10 hospital kitchens.

The report was compiled with figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the ‘Sun’ newspaper.