Shameful dish given to patient, 98, at Glasgow's Gartnavel hospital

The “disgusting” dish has sparked outrage from the patient’s son, who now has to travel across the city twice each day to feed her.

The unidentifiable dinner – believed to be ravioli – was given to the 98-year-old at Gartnavel Hospital on Sunday, but she refused to eat it.

As seen in the picture (right), the dish looks near inedible, and features a slob of mashed potato next to grey block.

Her 66-year-old son, who spoke to the Glasgow Times on the basis the pair would remain anonymous, said it shows “they just don’t care at all”.

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He said: “I showed some people the picture, even the nurses, and they were disgusted when I showed them it – but it’s a case of take it or leave it.

“It’s not nice how these people are treated – but my mum is partly deaf and she’ll just say yes to anything.

“She is fine in the head, but just mobility-wise she isn’t great.”

His mother fractured her pelvis three weeks ago.

She was first taken to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary but was later moved to Gartnavel for physiotherapy at Ward 3A – the geriatric orthopaedic rehabilitation unit.

The son, who lives in Carmyle in the East End, now travels back and fourth to the hospital every day to make sure she doesn’t go hungry.

He said: “I’m 66 and I’m running up to the hospital two times a day with food.

“They just don’t care at all.”

He travels by train from the East End to Hyndland Station, which averages out at least three hours travelling every single day.

Commenting on the dish, he added: “I was almost vomiting when I saw it, it looked like a sewer rat or something.

“Everyone I showed the picture to couldn’t work out what it was even meant to be – I think it was meant to be ravioli.”

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NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) employs a full time dietitian as part of the catering strategy team.

As a result, a rotating fortnightly menu is offered following two rounds of consultation with patients and staff to ensure patients’ nutritional needs are met.

But the disgusted son fears that not just his mum that is falling foul to the poor meals.

He added: “Hopefully my mum will be home in a week where she can be better taken care of and better fed.

“But there was another lady brought in across from my mum. She must’ve been around about 90.

“She looked very sick and out of it, and they just slapped a horrible dinner down in front of her and left it.

“She was left to feed herself.

“I asked someone and they said they were just waiting for it to cool down before they came back and fed her – but they didn’t.

“It was still sitting there like an hour later.”

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An NHS spokeswoman said: "We are sorry to hear about this meal.

"This falls short of our aim to provide fresh, nutritious and healthy food for all our patients.

"We encourage anyone who would like to discuss their meals to get in touch with our catering team who can quickly resolve any issues."

Coincidentally, the team behind the meals served in Glasgow’s hospitals last year were declared the best in Britain at a catering awards ceremony.

In April 2019, NHS GGC bagged the Catering Service of the Year at the Hospital Caterers Association awards.

They were honoured for work in devising a variety of “nutritious meals, working with dieticians and patients and meeting the needs of a large number of patients who often have a range of differing dietary requirements.”

In total, around 3.6 million meals are served each year across the health board’s 12 hospitals.

But in the days following the news, the Glasgow public hit back at the claims - saying the food was actually “barely edible”.