Hospital food has a reputation as the butt of jokes in much the same way as school dinners. Health reporter Mike Waites looks at menu changes over 50 years of the NHS and finds while cooking methods have remained the same, patients have a much wider choice to tempt their taste buds.

It was a recipe supposed to put the poorly on the road to health - porridge, fish baked in milk, and a milk pudding EVERY day.

Oh - and tripe if you fancied it!

In the post-war years the diet of the nation was strictly controlled by rationing which was not lifted until 1954. In fact the limits imposed during the war left people with rather healthier options than the junk food and sweet stuffs available today but it inevitably had an impact on the type of food cash-strapped hospital kitchens were able to dish up.

Today patients are often in hospital only for a matter of days but in 1948 most patients spent many weeks on the wards eating food from menus which were monotonously repeated week after week.

Nowadays menus are much more varied, although health watchdogs still express concern that some patients are left hungry in hospital because food is not tailored to their particular needs.

Pam Miller, assistant director of hotel services at Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, said in many ways the same principles were still being followed in providing food for patients making sure nutritionally healthy meals were available but the choice was now much greater.

In the early days of the NHS money was tight and rationing further reduced choice.

Before the war most hospitals only provided one cooked meal a day with menus repeated weekly but by 1948 three meals were provided each day in most hospitals.

Patients got porridge every day for breakfast and on Sundays always had roast meat and vegetables. On Fridays they always had fish baked in milk while milk puddings were a daily dish.

Regional preferences were taken into account and tripe was available in Bradford.

Nowadays a much greater range of food was available with dishes from around the world served up.

At Bradford Royal Infirmary meals are still cooked in hospital kitchens while at St Luke's Hospital it is pre-prepared.

Pam said it was important patients were persuaded to eat in hospital and items like cakes and chips were on the menu alongside healthy food options.

"Steps have been made to improve the quality of food and there is a much wider choice with dishes of more international cuisine," she said.

"Previously if you didn't like what was available, you didn't have anything.

"Food plays a very important role in the recovery of patients and getting them back eating makes them feel better.''

l A review of 50 years of the NHS will be the highlight of a meeting of Bradford community Health Council at City Hall, Bradford, on Wednesday, July 8 at 7.15pm.

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