Personalised and specialised menu options introduced at Scarborough's Saint Catherine's Hospice

Patients at Saint Catherine’s are being provided with the highest possible quality and personal choices around food as part of new ideas being introduced by Chef Jon Smith and his team.

Staff have recognised that sometimes patients don’t want big meals, the timing of food might not be right for them, they may struggle with swallowing or could even be experiencing difficulties with symptoms and side effects from medication that make them feel nauseous.

These factors have been built into the new approach Jon is taking with his team. He said: “I’ve created a range of homemade frozen meals that patients and families can grab at any time and reheat themselves on the unit to enable them to eat tasty and healthy meals whenever they want.

“I’ve also introduced a ‘portion size’ option when people are ordering food – from mini to maxi - so they can match what they want to their appetite on the day.”

In addition to the food options a new ‘Smoothies and Milkshakes’ menu now offers a chance to ‘pick your own’ from a huge range of ingredients including fresh fruit and vegetables, chocolate, peanut butter and more.

Infusions have been developed to help relieve some common symptoms such as nausea or indigestion and lots of natural flavours such as elderflower, ginger and peppermint are available to combine and create soothing and warming drinks with added health benefits.

Food can also play a special part in people’s lives and the team have set up a dining room where patients and families can get together and enjoy their meals, rather than staying their rooms.

Staff were delighted to recently receive a wonderful donation of traditional sweets from J Mollon Sweet Shop in Scarborough which are now on offer to patients and families in the newly refurbished family room and through a regular ‘sweetie round’ on the unit.

Members of the public can also enjoy the delights of Jon Smith’s fabulous food at the onsite bistro Flavours, which has been open since March, Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm, and is helping to raise the funds needed to keep Saint Catherine’s delivering their care and support.