Hospital fails to meet its own food health guidelines

LOWER HUTT, New Zealand — Hot dogs and a punnet of lukewarm chips go perfectly with a night at the speedway.

A thermonuclear mince and cheese pie does the trick when you're a hungry tradesman, or if you are topping off a big night on the town.

And as an occasional treat, there's nothing wrong with a big slice of chocolate brownie.

But as the food to sustain the health-conscious doctors, nurses and visitors at Hutt Hospital, such a spread would be far from ideal.

The ready availability of fried food, soft drinks and calorie laden snacks at the hospital has seen the Hutt Valley District Health Board faring worst in a review of the food available for purchase at the region's hospitals.

New guidelines, which were voted in favour of by the Hutt Valley board at its meeting last week, will lead to significant changes at Hutt Hospital's cafeteria and cafe.

A paper presented to the board on the proposal said the document would be used as a guideline during an 18-month implementation period.

The policy included five principles, none of which were adhered to by both the hospital's cafeteria and cafe.

A traffic-light style category system will be introduced, with green-rated healthy options to make up 85 per cent of the hospital's offerings and red-rated choices, such as sugar sweetened beverages, fatty and salty processed meats or deep-fried foods black-listed altogether.