Steamplicity looks to “put pride back into hospital food” with the launch of a series of “pop-ups” at hospital sites (1)
The unique patented steam cooking system, Steamplicity, part of Compass UK & Ireland, yesterday launched its first “pop-up” at King’s College Hospital, London, as part of its campaign to put pride back in hospital food.
The pop-up saw visitors and staff at the site taste some of the Steamplicity meals, enabling them to see first-hand the high quality of food patients at the site receive. Questions were also answered about how the meals are put together, sourcing of ingredients and the benefits of a steam cooked meal.
Steamplicity currently delivers 95,000 meals a week to patients at 30 hospitals across the UK. Due to the use of the unique steam valve, patients are able to receive meals made from fresh and raw ingredients that have been steamed in under five minutes – ensuring a high nutritional value, as well as meals that taste and look great.
The pop-up series also marks the launch of the new Steamplicity branding, which places a greater emphasis around the provision of freshly cooked food. Due to the benefits of cooking food by steam, Steamplicity is the only solution that is able to provide freshly cooked plated meals at ward level to ensure a high standard of nutritional value, taste and texture are provided to patients.
Another significant advantage of the innovative steam system is the flexibility it gives to the trust at mealtimes. Patients are able to order a Steamplicity meal outside of protected mealtimes which means if patients miss a meal due to having treatment of through poor appetite they can still have a hot meal. Furthermore as meals are individually portioned overall waste of uneaten meals in kept to a minimum with the majority of Steamplicity sites operating at 3% waste or less.
Steve Cenci, Managing Director, Healthcare, Compass Group UK & Ireland explains:
“We are really proud of our Steamplicity offer. We have a team of Compass chefs, nutritionists and dietitians who work on our dishes, to ensure we are able to produce fresh and nutritious meals of a high standard that people want to eat. We recognise that food has an essential role to play in the wellbeing of patients and take this responsibility seriously.
“We hope that our pop-ups series will enable us to have a positive dialogue with visitors, staff and patients about their hospital food, provide the opportunity to taste some of our meals, and give them confidence in what is being provided at those hospitals we operate at, as they learn more about the benefits of the Steamplicity system.
“The success of this UK developed patient dining innovation has led to its successful adoption in general hospitals all over the globe including New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Sweden.”
Jan Flint, Director of Nutrition and Dietetics at King’s College Hospital said:
“At King’s we always want to use the best ingredients and provide our patients with nutritious, varied and appetising food to aid recovery.”
The first pop up coincides with the arrival of the new Autumn/Winter menu, which sees 8 new dishes added including old favourites such as Beef Lasagne, new cuisines such as Teriyaki Salmon Noodles and new concept finger foods such as Chicken Goujons and Fish Fingers. The new pictorial – flash card style menu, launched earlier in the year is proving to be a great success, enabling those who are struggling to communicate, or prefer clearer pictures or larger font, to enable them to more easily choose a meal that they want.
There are currently two further pop-ups scheduled in the next month which are due to take place at:
• Whiston Hospital on Thursday 20th October 2016
• Southampton General Hospital on Tuesday 1st November 2016
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Notes to editors:
For any enquiries relating to Compass Group UK & Ireland and Steamplicity, contact the Communications Team on 01895 554 999 or email uk.communications@compass-group.co.uk
