Opinion | Hospital Food ‘Not Fit for a Dog’

When a 3-month hospitalization with Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2000 caused me to be intubated, extubated, and connected to a feeding tube, I had looked forward, finally, to real food after having worked my way from liquids to soft foods. Then solids.

At the time, hospitals were unfamiliar territory for me as an executive with the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain. So was hospital food, which created a particularly unattractive challenge.

The quality of the food was atrocious. I continued consuming undesirable protein drinks while my wife — already managing our two children alone and maintaining our household during my prolonged hospital stay — was burdened with bringing me food from home or from restaurants.

More than a decade later, when I became head of patient experience for Northwell Health in 2014, patient comments about our hospital food gave me déjà vu. They were harsh, unfiltered — and totally accurate, reflecting our poor, ninth-percentile food scores. Some brutally honest standouts included:

“Every meal brought to me was unappetizing.”

“Food was atrocious. Not fit to feed my dog.”

“People need good food to get better.”

These assessments were difficult to accept. How could our health system fail to offer healthful, nourishing food to the very patients we were entrusted with making healthier? Wasn’t this contradictory to our overarching mission?

We also had to confront the fact that we were serving more than 10 million meals a year, including meals served in our retail cafeterias, which were negatively impacting our overall patient satisfaction scores. Hospital stays that were overwhelmingly positive were marred by our food. Our CEO had even received personal letters from patients complaining about the food we were serving. We had to take action.

To improve the food, we started where the meals were made: the kitchen. It was the passion of award-winning chef Bruno Tison — who had never stepped foot in a hospital — that showed me we needed honesty and clear direction. His work in some of the world’s best restaurants and hotels inspired others from the hospitality world to join our hospital to help elevate our food and learn to bring a personal touch to every dish.

When chef Bruno joined our team, we got rid of fryers and replaced frozen, processed, and pre-prepared items with the freshest, most nutritious ingredients. Can openers and scissors were out. Cooking utensils, pots, and pans were in. We began using antibiotic- and hormone-free protein and artisanal bread to create made-to-order, culturally diverse food options. We also incorporated more plant-based food choices into our menus.

We’ve built new business relationships, including those with local bakeries that make desserts that comply with nutritional guidelines. We’re using produce from local farms. This has strengthened our ties to businesses and people in the communities we serve, as opposed to faraway factories.

There was a concern that this overhaul would be too costly. However, we learned that fresh ingredients were actually less expensive than processed and pre-cooked meals. Our economies of scale allowed us to negotiate more favorable prices and eliminate waste by serving food that would not end up in the trash. These changes enabled us to stay within our existing food budgets.

Our patients are now enjoying meals prepared by talented and passionate chefs who care about each plate that leaves the kitchen, just as they did in the finest restaurants and hotels. They’re also taking that passion beyond the kitchen, stopping by for bedside visits to get feedback firsthand.

Now, patient satisfaction surveys place our food in the 84th percentile nationally, across our 21-hospital system. Patients have changed their tune about our food:

“I am so grateful for the healthy, delicious, and well-prepared meals during my stay.”

And one of my favorite comments:

“I was just so thrilled with everything that I didn’t even remember that I was in pain and not feeling well.”

When I present our journey at healthcare industry conferences, I’m encouraged to learn that other health systems are also looking to improve the quality of food and nutrition in their organizations. Good nutrition is everything. When my counterparts ask me about Northwell’s transformation, I tell them it’s possible to successfully change hospital food from being a liability to an asset. They want to know how to get buy-in from executives and administrators: Eat the hospital food for a week yourself and be honest, I advise. Would you want your loved ones to eat it? Would you?

Now that our food is made with care, we’re connecting with our patients in a more personal way. We’re listening, adapting, and delivering on their unexpressed needs and wishes. We’re also serving a sense of surprise, even delight:

“Being in a hospital is never an enjoyable experience, but your caring meal preparation was the highlight of my stay.”

Sven Gierlinger is senior vice president and chief experience officer for Northwell Health.