Scarborough Hospital's catering team make Christmas special

Pat Bell, the hospital’s catering manager, has worked for the NHS for 28 years and during that time has served up her fair share of Christmas food.

Pat said: “We have a tremendous team here at Scarborough.

“Despite it being Christmas day, the team will still be providing breakfast, lunch and supper for staff and patients - so for us it’s business as usual.

“No-one wants to be away from family and loved ones at Christmas, and especially on Christmas day, so we work hard to provide a fantastic Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, along with little touches to make the day as special as possible.”

This year’s menu offers traditional roast breast of turkey and includes a choice of homemade Christmas pudding with rum sauce or butterscotch mousse.

Mince pies are the order of the day mid-morning and Christmas cake will be doing the rounds mid-afternoon.

Pat continued: “Lunch will be served on a festive place mat with a Christmas cracker, along with a specially designed menu for every patient.

“On the front of the menu this year is a lovely hand-drawn picture of Santa, which was designed by Lucy Hampson who won a competition we ran on the children’s ward.”

The team are expecting to serve around 270 patients and a further 100 staff who will be working to keep the busy hospital running.

Pat added: “Food is so important to people during the festive season and we want to make sure patients, staff and visitors can enjoy this special time as much as possible.

“It makes all our hard work worthwhile.”

Earlier in this month, the catering team served 385 Christmas lunches for staff on the run up to Christmas, as well as the usual healthy choices, salads and sandwiches.