Use local food and save £400m, says hospital manager

Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen’s Medical Centre’s catering trust has urged fellow hospital catering departments to follow its example and start sourcing food locally.

Trust catering manager John Hughes claims that since they adopted the new policy, they have achieved a daily plate saving of £2.50 per patient. This equates to more than £6m a year, which Hughes said would save “up to £400m” annually if it were rolled out across the NHS.


Hughes almost dismissed the idea of sourcing his beef locally rather than from South America, fearing that it would be too expensive and that there would not be enough fresh local produce available.