10 September 2021
The issue of poor nutrition at the RAH made media headlines this week with a patient having to rely on friends to bring her in food because her hospital meals were inedible, even mouldy.
The issue of hospital nutrition and food is one the ANMF (SA Branch) raised at a recent parliamentary inquiry into privatisation.
“It's pretty disappointing, to say the least,’’ ANMF (SA Branch) CEO/Secretary Adj Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM told FIVEAA morning presenter Leon Byner.
“Since the new Royal Adelaide Hospital opened there have been many, many issues about the quality, amount and availability of the food there. And we all know that nutrition is absolutely fundamental to both staying well, but also getting better.’’
Asked whether there was a feeling among members that poor food was a case of the hospital trying to save money, Ms Dabars said: “I think there is a sense of that, unfortunately, and I think it sadly goes back to the hospital being a public private enterprise (PPE).
“We never really supported it being a PPE. We thought it’s a public service and it really should be in public hands. We don't hear these similar issues in other locations where there is no PPE. So, you have to ask, ‘what is it about this arrangement that's making it like this?’.
“When the new RAH first opened one of our really great members, we've got many great members I hasten to add, but one of the great nurses, she was fantastic. She felt so committed to making sure her patients got something tasty that they would look forward to and they would actually eat, that she took it upon herself to bring a toaster into the new Royal Adelaide Hospital,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“And as soon as that was discovered by the bean counters that was promptly removed. And I think that's really sad. I think the fundamental reason was it wasn't part of how they saw the service running, and they didn't see that as core business.
“But our nurses and midwives do see nutrition as core business and it being a really fundamental part of people being healthy and staying healthy and getting healthy.
“I do think your point about cost is a really important one,’’ Ms Dabars told radio host Byner. “And when you do talk about privatising these things, these services, sadly it often is a bit of a race to the bottom.
“Because how services save money and how they become so-called efficient is by doing things like cutting costs. And sometimes that does mean that corners are cut.
“So instead of looking at what we think should be the premise here, and the premise should be about care and quality and what is good for the patient, what is good for the community at large, and getting them healthy and well and therefore out back into the community, which is a great result for everyone. Sadly, it often does come down to dollars and cents.
“And we know that dollars and cents are important, we all understand. We all are taxpayers. But we need to look at the bigger picture with this.
“If you are serving up rubbish that people don't want to eat, that is such a waste of money, because that is going directly into the bin. And that is a tragic waste, because it’s a lose-lose proposition. The material goes into the bin. People have wasted time, money and energy. People have to go and look for alternatives, people are asking family members to bring in food for them.
“This is an issue we continue to raise (with the Government), amongst others, certainly you’ve got to look at making sure people have adequate amounts of care and that means adequate numbers of nurses and midwives and also appropriate nutrition,’’ Ms Dabars said.
“We recently raised many of these issues in terms of the effect of privatisation and the pressure on the system currently and including the issue of food at the RAH at a parliamentary inquiry into privatisation, where we did discuss this very issue.
“When you look only at cost you end up paying more for less and the example of this terrible food, everyone’s losing out because you are wasting a lot and you’re not getting what you’re paying for or expecting in the first place.’’