First up was Nick Vadis, who talks about the challenges of recruiting, training and retaining chefs in the NHS. The culinary director of Compass Group UK and chef ambassador to the NHS Supply Chain, brings his passion to bear as he stresses the importance of training and developing hospital chefs.
He has taken a key role in developing the NHS Chef’s Academy programme, which invites hospital chefs to take part in free training, live demonstrations and the opportunity to network with peers.
Sharon Hodgson MP talks about how the jump in the cost-of-living affects not only households but caterers struggling to provide hot, healthy and tasty meals for children in school. Sharon, the Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West, has championed the benefits of a fair, properly funded schools meals service for a long time.
She currently chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on School Food and, since April 2021, has served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer. And she will be presenting the Labour Party view of the Hospital Food Review and government strategy linked to hospital catering when she addresses the Hospital Caterers Association’s Leadership & Development Forum in Birmingham on April 20.
Andy Kemp, executive director of the Bidfood Group, offers a look at the challenges facing the catering industry from a suppliers perspective. He highlights the climate crisis, and its effect on food production, and the increased pressures caused by the cost-of-living crisis.
Andy speaks from long experience. In 2019 he was awarded an MBE for his ‘outstanding services to the foodservice and hospitality industry’, work for which he was also awarded an honorary degree by the University of West London.
Philip Shelley, who is senior operational and policy manager with NHS Estates and Facilities and chaired the Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food, tells us that the current challenges faced by the NHS require strong leadership, an emphasis on skills development and the nurturing of strong teams.
He says the recent publication of eight new National Standards of Hospital Food for patients, staff and visitors that all NHS organisations will be legally required to meet is a really positive move. But he acknowledges the significant pressures within the organisation and stresses that leadership, above all, is needed from Trust chief executives all the way down to teams on the wards.
Public Sector Catering has plenty more interviews planned to give you more insight into the thinking of some of our industry’s key people. And on February 23rd they will be gathered in one place when the annual round table discussion takes place at the House of Commons after the postponement of its original date in last December.
To watch any of the interviews so far visit: https://www.publicsectorcatering.co.uk/interview.