Hospital meals for 400 from corridor kitchen

Trish Purfit, Kate Teece and Katie Bray are among the team feeding 400 patients a day from a corridor

Staff at a Shropshire hospital have been serving hundreds of meals a day from a temporary kitchen in a corridor after their regular base was closed for safety reasons.

The main kitchen at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford had to be closed in September when Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) was found in the building.

Staff had to relocate overnight.

Catering supervisor Katie Bray said: "It's like a 20-bed mansion going into a one-bed bungalow."

"We had to think of everything we needed that would last us for the coming weeks, but we've been working really well. We've got a great team," she added.

After a short period serving soup and sandwiches to the 400 patients typically in the hospital, catering manager Kate Teece said the team had quickly resumed normal service.

"Within a few days we were back on a normal menu, so they haven't really been affected," she said.

Work to build the kitchen included installing electrics, sectioning off areas and building a walk-in chiller to store the food.

Instant gravy

The change has meant new ways of working for the team, which has requisitioned a junior doctors' rest area for its equipment.

Mixing a jug of instant gravy on the ward itself instead of in the kitchen, Sharon Davies said: "It's been quite hard, actually. We're sort of adjusting now. We do really well as a team."

It is still not known when the kitchen will be ready to go back into action.

Senior catering manager Trish Purfit said that contractors had completed initial works to make the building safe for construction work.

"We're hoping in the next few weeks that we can move back into the kitchen area and the wash-up area, which will be much better," she said.