The food family

The mappmal ‘food family’ comprises: catering staff, consultants, dietitians, doctors, domestic staff, healthcare assistants, NHS management, nurses, cccupational therapists, physiotherapists, representation from older peoples organisations and speech and language therapists.

Key stakeholders include:

• Age UK
• British Association for Parental and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN)
• British Dietetics Association (BDA)
• Hospital Caterers Association (HCA)
• National Association of Care Caterers (NACC)
• National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA)
• Royal College of Nursing (RCN)

The food family and key stakeholders were engaged in all stages of development of the new prototype through workshops, focus groups and interviews to inform on the feasibility and acceptability of the new system, its workability and potential integration in real life.

Interviews and observations

An ethnographic study of 5 NHS hospitals and semi structured interviews with users and stakeholders was conducted to identify areas for change; this led to the development of service principles that guided the prototype.

Feedback on the developing prototype was obtained from the users and stakeholders throughout the project through targeted interviews and focus groups to assess the practicality of the prototype and to refne it.

Workshops

The first workshop was held to present and discuss information that had emerged from the initial stages of research into the current systems of food provision to older people in hospitals. mappmal team members and food family members attended the workshop which was structured around three inter-related group activities.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

• present visual ‘mappings’ of the current systems of food provision to older people in hospitals for discussion and clarification
• generate new ideas of how to overcome some of the identified issues and barriers to optimising food intake in older people in hospital so that the project team could progress to the development stage of the project

The second workshop was held to present, develop and receive feedback on ideas for food provision for older people in hospitals that emerged from our first workshop.

mappmal team members and food family members attended the workshop which developed new ideas for food provision, from production to consumption including: food and snacks appropriate for older people, patient ordering systems, the environment in which the patient eats and the monitoring of food and nutrient intake.
The objectives of the workshop were to bring together the specialist knowledge of the participants to:

• develop the innovative ideas that emerged from our first workshop into a ‘prototype’ of a new food service for older patients
• obtain critical appraisal of these initial ideas so that the research team could develop them into workable solutions for food provision to older patients
• obtain views on how our ideas and service principles for food provision might work in other care settings for older people such as residential and nursing care homes

The third workshop was held to bring together the specialist knowledge of the participants to present the new service concept and gather feedback to refine the prototype. The new service was presented holistically using service narratives of hospitalfoodie in action for older patients with hip fracture, stroke or dementia. The various components of hospitalfoodie were then presented in detail using concept boards, initial mock ups and food samples.

Food sensory panel

Our trained food sensory panel tested samples of existing hospital food from two different types of catering systems to determine any differences between the systems and to highlight any degradation in food sensory properties due to the food journey.

Food sensory testing was conducted during the development of our new mini meals to evaluate the nutrient dense biscuits, sauces and ice creams.

User prototype testing and development workshops

• In August 2011, older volunteers tested our prototype ordering system. Their input was invaluable in the development of the patient food ordering system.
• Initial validation studies of the monitoring application have been conducted by comparing the results of the application to weighed intakes. This research is on-going.
• A fourth workshop was held in September 2011 to develop and prototype facilities and processes for ward food provision.

hospitalfoodie exhibition

• A purpose designed exhibition was built to communicate the new service prototype and gather feedback at four health related conferences.
• A series of sponsored symposia and conference presentations accompanied the exhibition to provide more deptail and describe the development process.
• This website aims to gather your feedback on the hospitalfoodie prototype through the Contact Us page.