New NHS hospital food standards laid out

New standards have been set out by the government that are aimed at raising the overall standard of hospital food provided under the NHS.

The new set of basic principles cover the quality of food, nutritional content and range of choice available, while patients are set to take the lead in a new series of assessments of standards in this area.

Key tenets of the guidelines include ensuring that nutritious and appetising food and drink is available at all times, that healthy diets are promoted and that hospitals regularly evaluate their performance and seek to make improvements.

This comes as part of a wider effort to improve the quality of care environments, with assessments of cleanliness, privacy and dignity standards also set to take place.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "Patients deserve the highest standards and by making sure they lead the inspections, we will put their experience at the heart of improving the NHS."

This comes after figures from the Department of Health last month revealed that the number of mixed-sex accommodation breaches among English hospitals fell to their lowest level ever in August 2012.