Nottingham hospitals introduce translated patient menus
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has pioneered its first translated in-patient menus.
In-patient lunch and dinner menus have now been translated into Polish and Romanian, with more translations to follow.
Katie Pegg, Clinical Educator at NUH, was the driving force behind the change. For the past year Katie has taken on the role of an Inclusion Fellow at NUH, which was part of the Institute of Care Excellence. Katie’s inclusion fellowship led her to focus on the language barriers around nutrition at NUH.
Katie has been working in the NHS for 20 years and was a Clinical Educator before this fellowship. She said: "It is so nice to think how happy this project has made both staff and patients.
“Seeing the impact translated menus have had on the patient experience has been amazing. Along with this, the relationship between catering staff and patients has also improved. Patients now understand the food choices available and can enjoy their food when it arrives, which is a major part of recovery.
“There is still lots of work to be done, with more translations and increasing use within the Trust, but this is a great start to an amazing project.”
Nicola Strawther, Chief Dietetic Technician for Catering at NUH, said: “The translation menus are a big step forward in helping patients, their relatives and careers who don’t use English as their first language.
“Feedback received during the project clearly highlighted the difficulties faced for some patients in our community in choosing meals that they like and enjoy, and therefore affecting their nutritional intake. Adding pictures of the meals has enhanced the translation menus even further, especially where some food items may be less familiar.”
Clive Clarke, NUH Director of Inclusion, said: “This is such an important project that will really benefit patients and will make NUH the inclusive place we all want it to be.
“Katie has worked extremely hard on this project, and it is fantastic to see how much she has achieved within her fellowship. I look forward to supporting it in the next steps.”
The menus will be translated into the top five languages spoken across Nottingham – Polish, Urdu, Arabic, Romanian and Cantonese, with a focus on translating specialist menus such as Halal and snacks to follow. The printing of these menus will be funded by Nottingham Hospitals Charity.
Julie Brailsford, Deputy Chief Executive at Nottingham Hospitals Charity, said: “We are delighted to have been able to provide the funding for this important project.
“This will have such a positive impact on patients – food can be such a comfort during a time of illness and recovery, and these new translated menus will enable more patients to choose the foods they enjoy during their time in hospital. Thank you to all our donors who have enabled us to fund this project.”