HOSPITAL food may have a bad reputation, but the Royal Berkshire Hospital catering team are in a league of their own when it comes to serving up tasty meals to patients.

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust were awarded a certificate of excellence for their catering provision this week, retaining their high standard of food safety and hygiene.

An inspection carried out by Support Training Services praised the dedication and commitment of the team for serving 250,000 meals every year.

While many hospitals rely on ready-made frozen meals to serve such a large number of people, the Reading team are committed to offering fresh and healthy meals.

Daniel Cripps, the Trust's catering manager, said: “I am delighted that we have once again received the certificate of excellence, recognising the outstanding service we provide.

“It takes a huge team effort from all parties in the department with strong leadership from the management team.

“The majority of hospitals now use frozen ready-made meals to save on staffing costs, but we see the value of freshly cooked nutritional meals for our patients.

“We understand the importance of food in a patient’s recovery, and do everything possible to ensure we can provide good, appetising food for our patients, and staff to eat.”

During the visit a number of areas were inspected such as food storage, cooking, hygiene and training.

Every hospital is required to meet food safety and hygiene standards and the annual audit ensures patients are being given food that has not been contaminated in any way.