How The NHS Can Save Money With Electronic Meal Ordering

In 2020, an independent review recommended that every hospital in the UK implement an electronic meal ordering system by 2022. Since then, Trusts have developed various systems to replace paper-based meal ordering, cut costs, reduce food waste and enhance patient satisfaction — all with varying degrees of success. 

These solutions were designed with a variety of benefits, giving patients more control over their food intake while addressing and preventing malnutrition risks. 

Detailed menus include information about the meal, such as photos, descriptions and allergy information, to aid with making decisions. This amount of information on a paper-based menu is costly to print and inefficient when considering the ease and seamlessness of a digital alternative. 

So, what digital alternatives are there to improve this process? And how have the initial systems become outdated in light of the emergence of even newer, better technology?

Like many solutions introduced post-2022,  SPARK Fusion® empowers patients to place meal orders directly from their hospital beds. Among other benefits we’ll explore in this guide, enabling patients to have more control over what they wish to eat reduces the amount of food patients waste during mealtimes. 

According to official statistics, around the time of the 2020 independent review, NHS England had thrown away more than 6,000 tonnes of hospital food, with the annual cost of hospital food waste standing at £230 million.

More recently, it’s been estimated that up to 18% of hospital food may be wasted (equivalent to one in every six meals wasted) every year.

That’s around 0.5 kilograms of food waste produced per patient per week.

Key elements that contribute to meal ordering savings

Despite some digitalisation, an alarming amount of costly food wastage impacts the bottom line for Trusts.

Let’s examine how SPARK Fusion® can mitigate these more effectively than other alternatives. 

Optimising order processing

Before electronic systems, staff would have to fill in paper forms and take them to the catering staff a day in advance. This poses a risk of meals being discarded in the event of a patient altering their preferences, experiencing a loss of appetite or undergoing a change in their health condition.

As an Electronic Meal Ordering (E.M.O) system automatically does this for them, a significant amount of time is saved on manual tasks. Ward staff then have more time to focus on more important duties and give care and attention to patients who need it.

In a recent case study, The Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust discovered that Saffron Bedside, an electronic meal ordering system from Civica, reduced service time by 50%, along with a £180,00 annual cost saving, using a digital solution.

At Jeroen Bosch Hospital in the Netherlands, however, this has been streamlined even further thanks to the implementation of SPARK Fusion®. 

While food still arrives at set meal times, this integration offers more flexibility for patients to choose their meals as and when they like, as opposed to being rushed into ordering. Essentially, they can select meals at their own leisure and look forward to their meal, knowing fully what’s coming their way at dinner time.  

Plus, patients can browse menus and place orders from their fingertips via the bedside unit, which reduces the strain on staff resources (thus streamlining costs more efficiently.

Patients can also use the in-app function to read about the nutritional elements of the meal, including the ingredients with images of the food so they know exactly what to expect. They’ll also only be shown foods they can eat (i.e. those that meet their specific dietary requirements).

Reducing food wastage

The NHS in England provides 140 million inpatient meals annually, spending £633 million on inpatient food provision.

Reducing food waste promotes healthy, low-carbon diets and accessibility to seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables, which in turn benefits health and reduces carbon emissions.

Patients can also choose the portion size of their meal, reducing the wastage of uneaten food. The food is also uniquely linked to them as patients. So, for instance, if they were to move beds for whatever reason, the meal would follow (rather than being sent/delivered to the old bed and, therefore, wasted).

Healthy and appetising meals and beverages enhance the patient's journey and the holistic care hospitals offer. Therefore, it’s imperative to prioritise the significance of food during the treatment process.

Alleviating bed blocking

It has been previously estimated that the average cost of any given hospital stay for a patient amounts to £400 per day. If the average stay is six nights, the cost per patient is £2,400.

That makes bed blocking a real issue in financial terms. Therefore, hospitals and Trusts must remain vigilant of the wider issues surrounding overstaying patients or patients staying less than what’s required — not just in terms of cost but also in the quality of care.

Ensuring patients return to their normal residency or another care setting as soon as it’s safe will improve patient flow and reduce bed shortage issues.

Reducing the length of stay also enables medical professionals to treat more patients, increasing efficiency in wards and between staff members.

As mentioned above, on-demand access to a balanced, nutritional diet is a key contributor to the overall recovery process. It improves patient energy uptake, morale and wellbeing — and with SPARK Fusion®, it empowers them to make more bespoke meal ordering tailored to their specific needs. 

Total cost savings by implementing electronic meal ordering

For the average 600-bed Trust, the savings made from switching to an Electronic Meal Ordering system are staggering. EMO could save £262,900 per annum, taking into account the following:

• Total paper removal cost saving per annum = £27,375
• Total efficiency cost saving per annum = £40,359
• Total wastage reduction saving cost per annum = £72,270
• Total reduced length of stay cost saving per annum = £122,896

Want to learn how we calculated these numbers? Check out our ROI Calculations Explained guide to discover the logic behind the numbers for EMO and other cost-saving solutions through technology. 

Our cost savings handout is also a useful reference point. 

How to transform cost savings into reality with SPARK Fusion®

It's all well and good stating how much money the NHS could save if they utilised electronic meal ordering, but how can they get this technology into hospitals? 

With SPARK Fusion®, transitioning from older equipment to technology with digital meal ordering is simple, via a new and technologically advanced unit; with an iPad at the bedside. 

The backplate for the new units fits perfectly on the existing arms that currently hold the 20-year-old Hospedia Bedside Units, which many Trusts currently rely on for simply displaying a PDF menu.

SPARK Fusion® on the other hand, can very easily swap out Hospedia units with minimal disruption to wards, while facilitating more seamless meal ordering via a third party. 

With an iPad at the bedside, patients have better digital access for meal ordering alongside various other features to support them during their stay. Alongside Jeroen Bosch Hospital, this managed tablet solution has been successfully rolled out to 30% of hospitals in the Netherlands with ease. 

Getting set for meal ordering challenges this winter (and beyond)

Staff capacity is stretched due to seasonality and the current issues and inefficiencies with alternative digital meal ordering systems are heightened. 

Our free eBook: Five ways to reduce winter pressures on the NHS is an in-depth examination of these challenges while highlighting how SPARK Fusion® can be leveraged to ease these issues and set Trusts up for long-term success.