A review into the quality of hospital food in the district has been called for tonight by members of Bradford Council’s health improvement committee.

The call came during a discussion into what is being done to tackle obesity in the district when the committee met in City Hall this evening.

Committee member Councillor Doreen Lee (Labour, Keighley East) said patients in hospitals were being denied the chance to eat healthily because of the “atrocious” quality of food, particularly at Airedale Hospital, near Steeton.

Coun Lee said: “Having spent a great deal of time in hospital over the last year due to ill health I think more focus should be made on hospital food – it is anything but healthy. The food is never what you order, it is cold and there is nothing suitable for patients who need a halal option – it is awful, horrendous.

“It is not the fault of the staff, it is because the food comes from Wales frozen and is warmed up in the hospital and again on the ward.”

Dr Catherine Heffernan, a consultant in public health with NHS Bradford and Airedale, agreed the quality was horrendous.

She told the committee work had been carried out in Leeds looking at the quality of hospital food which was from Wales and said similar work could be carried out in the Bradford district.

The chairman of the committee, Councillor Elaine Byrom, asked for a report to be brought back to the health improvement committee in six months time into the quality of food in hospitals.

“It is of great importance to a lot of people,” she said.

Councillors also quizzed Dr Heffernan and Nigel Hughes, senior manager in public health, about work being carried out in local schools to tackle obesity.

Mr Hughes said most schools were now ‘healthy schools’ and were delivering at least two hours of physical exercise and sport a week, with the aim of achieving five hours.

Coun Byrom also called for a report back to the committee in six months looking at the levels of people in the district with diabetes, as a consequence of being obese.