On the 3 occasions in my life I have had to stay in an NHS hospital it has been pretty grim. I'm not usually fussed when it comes to food and will normally eat anything and everything but the food in hospital did not taste right and looked very un-appetising, very similar to the photos in the link.
The private hospital I stayed in many years ago wasn't much better.
In the 70's I spent quite a lot of time in hospital following an accident at the pit and to put it politely the food was rubbish the only good thing about it was the portions were that small you didn't have to suffer it for long.I think if it hadn't been for family and friends bringing me goodies I'd have wasted away.
Of all the places on the planet, shouldn't we expect reasonably healthy food from a UK hospital? It's beyond me why its so difficult. Our speed of recovering so often depends on us being able to get back to a normal well balanced diet, yet we have to rely on friends and family to bring fresh food into us. I just about managed a small jacket potato with cheese when I was in hospital, but the was no hope of a little bit of side salad for it. And for those on restricted diets, its almost impossible. Nothing low fat, low sugar or low or high fibre. In this day and age they should set the example.
I've just had to spend a week in hospital in Poitiers. Medical care was great, but almost all of the food was completely inedible. I lost weight. Remember, I had to pay 'Hospitalier' fees (not cheap) for my plates of uneaten food. How about a bowl of dry, raw, sliced radish (no dressing of any sort) offered as a starter? So, France is no better. Re. UK - James Martin went into Scarborough hospital (it was a series on TV) and transformed the catering - even covered the cost of doing so by improved practice.
You should have seen the food served to Mic. I took loads of stuff in for him to eat. I asked could I use their microwave to heat it up. NO was the answer, so he ate it cold.
I had lung surgery 10 years ago and was in hospital for two weeks in total, I lost a stone in weight the food was so sparse and horrible. I only weighed 8st when I went in so I was pretty fragile afterwards.
I spent three weeks in hospital a long time ago. The food was dire, died eggs for breakfast and tasteless muck the rest of the time. There was always a rush for a salad.
when I was last in hospital I was on a pureed diet, I was presented with something that looked like a cow pat on a plate, as an insulin dependant diabetic I had to eat it as I had already had my injection, and there was nothing else for me, it was foul, after three days of this I could not even put my spoon in it let alone eat it, I went hypo, the Doctor raised hell when he saw what I had on my plate and things did improve a bit, but I went home very underweight.
Horrifyingly bad I feared for my life at Royal Sussex Brighton. It was like slum food during the War - or as I imagine it was! More nutrition in an old boot on a tramp's foot.
My OH had fab meals, huge crispy cod and chips, shepherds pie, macaroni cheese, spag bol & gorgeous puds. He was too fussy & only eats steak but I had a feast ;)