Inpatients at Queen’s Hospital are benefitting from our new picture food menu, designed to aid communication between staff and patients.

The new menus feature pictures of the meals on offer instead of words. These are especially valuable for patients with whom communication had previously been challenging; for instance, those with learning disabilities and people whose first language is not English. 

The menus – designed in collaboration with colleagues from Sodexo who provide patient dining at Queen’s Hospital – also include images to represent different allergies, so patients can be confident when selecting their meals. 

Parveen Gungoo, matron at Mandarin A ward, said: “These menus will help us ask patients exactly what they would like to eat. The visual aid is going to be a very good tool on our wards, it will help us communicate better with patients and with Sodexo.”

Karen Ford Sneddon, patient dining manager at Sodexo, said: “It’s important for us to identify how to improve the patient journey throughout the hospital, especially their mealtime experience. We looked at different patients’ needs and abilities and how we can help them choose the right meal for them.

“The menus will also help the clinical teams, if they’re unsure what the meal looks like or what’s in it, they can look at it as well, giving them more confidence to support patients.”

The new menus are now available on all wards at Queen’s Hospital and join the existing selection of patient menus that allow us to meet the needs of our diverse community. These include halal, kosher, vegan, Asian vegetarian, Afro-Caribbean, and gluten-free menus.