NHS hospital will become the first to run a permanent food bank

Tameside Hospital is to become the first NHS hospital in the UK to set up its own permanent food bank after healthcare professionals raised concerns about increasing numbers of malnourished patients. 

Staff at the hospital in Greater Manchester will donate food, which will be taken to a collection centre on site, from where it will be distributed to the local community.

A&E staff will also be able to discreetly provide emergency food boxes to patients who they feel would benefit when they are discharged.

Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has said its medical staff have reported a ‘significant increase’ in the number of malnourished patients using its services in the past year. 

The trust's chief executive Karen James said it has the ‘right checks and balances’ in place to identify malnourishment, so the food bank initiative is designed to reduce or prevent the problem rather than diagnose and treat it. 

The hospital will work with the Trussell Trust, which runs a network of food banks across Tameside.

Ms James said the need for food banks in the local area is growing and ‘supply is limited’.

She added: ‘With a staff of 2,400, Tameside Hospital is one of the biggest employers in the region. 

‘The majority of colleagues live in the community they serve, and some will be aware – either first-hand, or through family and friends – of other neighbours who are struggling to cope. 

‘Many of these people are or will become our patients, and we have a duty of care to ensure we help them however we can.’

Alongside its central collection point, the hospital will have several secure collection ‘bins’ across its site where staff and visitors can leave contributions of non-perishable food that is within its sell-by date. 

Volunteers will then gather the food, and vans will come once a week to take it to the Trussell Trust’s distribution warehouse. 

The NHS trust’s medical director Brendan Ryan said malnourished patients have higher incidences of post-operative complications and mortality. 

He added: ‘Malnourished surgical patients have complication and mortality rates three to four times higher than normally nourished patients, with longer hospital admissions. 

‘And similar findings have been described in medical patients, particularly older people.’

The food bank will launch on November 13.