From finding out exactly what a patient fancies for lunch to serving up a favourite dish, our Catering Team brings much more than great food to the table.
For Linda, one of our Catering Assistants, and the rest of our Catering Team, no two days are quite the same. One thing is guaranteed though – there’s always plenty to keep them busy!
Depending on Linda’s shift, her day might begin by setting up and serving breakfast, preparing sandwiches, salads, toasties and jacket potatoes for lunch, or heading onto the ward to speak to patients about what they’d like to eat that day.
And it’s that time spent with patients that Linda particularly loves.
Rather than simply working from a standard menu, Linda and the team take the time to find out what each person likes and dislikes, how they’re feeling and what they might be able to manage that day.
If someone isn’t feeling like eating, they’ll look for something that might tempt them. If they need their food prepared differently, the team will find a way to adapt it.
“What would you like? I’d do anything I can for you,” Linda said. “I can blend things, I can do smooth meals. I can do a bit of everything for you.”
When someone is unwell, being able to enjoy something they really fancy can make a real difference.
Sometimes, those everyday moments mean more to families than the team may ever realise.
“Me and Donna have even been mentioned in funeral services,” Linda said. “It makes us all emotional.”
More than patient meals
The kitchen is rarely quiet. Alongside meals for patients, the team provides food for staff and volunteers too, with Linda clocking up an incredible 25,000 to 30,000 steps on some days as she moves between the kitchen, ward and the many jobs that keep everything running.
But however busy things get, there’s still plenty of laughter.
It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that when we asked Linda to sum up St Oswald’s Hospice, keeping her answer to just three words proved a little tricky.
“Outstanding. Impeccable. Above and beyond.”
She added: “Everyone is so lovely. Compassionate, caring. That is every aspect of this place.”
And we think those words describe Linda and our wonderful Catering Team rather nicely too.
