It’s the end of era at the Hanover and District Hospital.
The Hospital is no longer serving home cooked meals to patients, visitors and staff.
After a year of planning, the Hospital is now switching to a new thermal meal service.
This consists of pre-packaged frozen entrees specifically developed for hospital meals.
The move is expected to save the hospital about 90 thousand dollars a year.
Vice President of Patient Care Services Esther Millar is confident the new menu will please the most discriminating of palates.
She says entrees were chosen after a series of taste testing events by staff, featuring several different thermal food companies.
The general impression after the taste testing was that many of the entrees were very tasty and the quality was excellent.
Food Service staff will continue to prepare soup, desserts, sandwiches and hot beverages.
The hospital is also enhancing the vending machines to include freshly made wraps, sandwiches, fruit, deserts and muffins prepared by dietary staff.
The switch to the thermal food system has resulted in a reduction in dietary staff.
Millar says there were no layoffs, as some members chose to retire early while other members were re-assigned to other areas of the hospital.
Patients will get a chance to voice their opinion on the new hospital food.
The hospital plans to conduct a patient survey to rate the new food in the near future.
