The Catering Department provides all patient meals and offers a paid-for service for staff.

The food provision in the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham is as follows:

• Dining area (Restaurant Level 2) is open to staff and visitors from 08:00 - 19:00, seven days a week, offering hot and cold beverages, snacks, confectionery, cakes, sandwiches, hot meals and cooked breakfasts. (Exit the lifts on Level 2 and turn left, following the signs)
• Vending machines serve hot and cold beverages, snacks and sandwiches at various locations throughout QEHB

Other outlets include the Cellar Restaurant within Nuffield House on the old QE site, the Clock Tower cafe on the main corridor at the old QE, the café in the Outpatients Department at Selly Oak plus various food and beverage vending machines across all sites.

The Trust provides a scheduled patient catering service for all inpatients and relevant day case patients at all times. Scheduled meals and/or snacks will be delivered according to agreed schedules on a ward-by-ward basis.

Where requests are made outside these hours through the catering helpdesk, the Trust will supply inpatient meals through one of the following formats:

• Ward kitchen
• Snack box
• Light bite

Bringing food into hospital for patients

The Trust must ensure that any food brought into hospital for patients is safe. The food should suit the patient’s dietary needs and help contribute to a healthy and balanced diet.

Please note the following:

• Packaging - must be sealed with the ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ date not exceeded and with the nutritional and allergen information intact. Food should be sealed by the manufacturer with tamperproof lids and bottle tops.
• Home produced food – is not permitted as per the Trust’s food hygiene procedure.
• Reheating - staff on the ward are unable to reheat drinks / foods.
• Refrigeration - small quantities of sealed foods (for example, yoghurt) may be stored with prior approval of the nurse-in-charge.
• Storage - full boxes of crisps or multipacks of any kind are not permitted due to limited storage.
• Allergens - nuts or food products containing nuts are not permitted.
• Food safety - products / items containing raw meat or raw fish are not permitted.

Always check with the nurse-in-charge or ask to speak to a hospital dietician if you are unsure about the suitability of any food items.