Healthy meals on the menu

Northern Health patients now have more fresh and healthy meal varieties as our kitchen staff go live with cooking fresh vegetables in their new state of the art industrial kitchen, with three new steamers utilised for this purpose.

Our food services department transitioned into the new kitchen in February, which was one of the first areas to open as part of the Stage 2 of the Northern Hospital Expansion Project.

Tina Smith, ISS Catering Manager, said her team received feedback from patient surveys about what they would like to see on the menu in regards to fresh and healthier meal options.

“For the patients, it means better quality vegetables and more variety and patient satisfaction. The chefs are very excited to be cooking fresh vegetables in our modern kitchen,” Tina said.

“The new kitchen was designed as a hybrid to cook some fresh items. It has taken a lot of group work to get us to this point and we are very proud to provide excellent services to the patients.”

Saj Amerasinghe, ISS Key Account Manager, said the ISS Food Service team was in consultation with Dietetics and Speech Pathology to enhance patient meals at lunch and dinner times.

“This is a great partnership for Northern Health to working towards patient satisfaction in the patient journey,” Saj said.

“I would personally like to thank the Food Services team, Greg Warman, Director of Support Services, the Dietetics team and Speech Pathology for all the support throughout and making this project a success. This is what we exactly mean by at ISS, we connect people and places to make the world better.”

Hayley Collins, Grade 3 Dietitian, said, “Dietetics and Speech Pathology worked closely with the Food Service team to develop a new fresh vegetable menu, add items and build recipes into the menu management system Delegate, update the default menu with these changes, as well as add in nutrition and allergen information,” she said.

“The Speech Pathology team have been instrumental in ensuring the vegetables meet international standards for consistency.”

Greg Warman said the team had been working towards these enhancements since the new kitchen opened.

Featured image: ISS team member preparing meals