Catering Team at RJAH retains prestigious exemplar status

A commitment to serving up high standards for patients, staff and visitors has seen the Catering Team at Shropshire’s specialist orthopaedic hospital retain its prestigious NHS exemplar status.

The team at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital has successfully retained the national recognition, which celebrations high standards in hospital catering and provides an opportunity for organisations to share good practice and learning across the NHS.

RJAH was first selected as an exemplar site in 2023 following the national Hospital Food Review, which highlighted the important role good food and nutrition play in supporting the health and wellbeing of patients, staff and visitors.

Sian Langford, Facilities Compliance Manager, said: “We’re incredibly proud of have retained exemplar status, recognising the hard work that goes into maintaining high standards across our catering services, and, importantly, our commitment to continually improving what we do.

“Being part of the programme gives us the opportunity to work collaboratively with other hospitals across the NHS, sharing ideas and good practice around areas such as menu choices, staff training, food safety management, sustainability and reducing food waste.”

The Catering Team at the Oswestry-based hospital is responsible for providing and serving meals to inpatients, as well as the onsite restaurant, Denbigh’s.

Dan Hoggett, Catering Manager, said: “We were delighted to be selected as an exemplar site originally, and to now retain that recognition is a fantastic achievement for the whole team.

“It’s testament to the hard work that takes place every day – both front of house and behind the scenes, to provide the best possible service for our patients, staff and visitors.

“We’re always looking at what we can do differently or improve, whether that’s developing our menus to meet patients’ individual needs, working with our suppliers or finding ways to make our service more sustainable.”