The new five-year contract, which begins on Thursday 8th February 2024, responds to feedback from patients and staff. It will also create 50 new jobs in the county as well as providing an improved catering service to staff and inpatients.
Sheila Stenson, chief executive of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), said: “Since I became chief executive at the end of last year I have been clear that my focus is on making every day a better day for our patients. An important part of this is listening to what they have to say about our services and acting on it.
“I am really pleased we will be able to offer a much-improved service that will provide tastier food, more quickly, free up our staff’s time to focus on clinical care and offer our patients greater control over their meals. ISS is an experienced catering provider, that provides food to many NHS trusts, and we look forward to working with them over the next five years to continually improve the food we offer on our wards.”
ISS will recruit 50 hosts to serve food, place orders and plan meals on the Trust’s wards in Margate, Maidstone, Dartford and Canterbury. An investment will be made to ‘revitalise’ the Trust’s two restaurants at St Martin’s Hospital in Canterbury and Littlebrook Hospital in Dartford.
Donna Brown, managing director for healthcare at ISS, added: “KMPT is one of many NHS Trusts we are proud to work with, and share the fundamental belief that, when you’re in hospital, food is medicine.
“We recognise that in order to provide a high-quality service we need the right resources and staff in place to do this. Our food hosts will be that important link between us, the Trust and the patients being cared for every day, so we can hear first-hand about the things working well and where we can continuously improve.
“Environment plays an important part in creating a great dining experience for patients, clinicians and visitors alike, and we are proud to be investing in more modern and functional spaces in which to prepare and serve our food. We are looking forward to working even more closely over the next five years with KMPT to make sure that we are responding to the needs of their patients, staff and visitors and provide them with an ever-improving catering service.”