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King's Fund, 11-13 Cavendish Square, London W1G
0AN
Website: http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/resources/events/
healthy.html
Contact: Dawn Galvan T: 020 7307
2587 F: 020 7307 2809 E: [log in to unmask]
The NHS spends £500 million a year on food and catering services. The way our food is produced can be bad for our health. Farming methods and food transport pollute the environment. We also rely on processed foods high in fats, sugar and salt - associated with obesity, heart disease and cancer. The NHS has put effort into improving patient food and ensuring patients eat well, but paid less attention to how and what food it buys. "Choosing Health" and the most recent Chief Medical Officer's report have suggested that health service organisations should use food procurement to promote positive economic, environmental and health impacts. But few have tried to do this. At this one day conference, practitioners and policymakers will debate the value of achieving sustainable food procurement in the NHS, and demonstrate how it can be done. A King's Fund report for the Better Hospital Food programme will be presented, including a new framework for sustainable food procurement that can be used by individual trusts. Workshop speakers will present examples from pilots in hospitals and schools demonstrating that change is possible and can bring great benefits. Delegates will also have a chance to hear about current policy from those involved and discuss whether it currently enables sustainable procurement, and if not, how it might better do so.