Angie Dobbrick, Executive Director, Caboolture and Kilcoy Hospitals and Woodford Corrections Health
Patients at Caboolture Hospital will be able to order all-day hot breakfasts, burgers, stir fries or even pancakes on demand under our new room service model, which starts tomorrow (18 April).
Similar to Uber Eats and its contemporaries, patients will be able to order meals anytime between 6.30am and 6.30pm seven days a week, via an app on their mobile device or a quick call from the bedside phone.
Under this new and innovative delivery model, patients will have unprecedented flexibility to choose what they want to eat when they eat it while ensuring their nutritional demands are met.
Gone are the days where every patient gets a similar menu at traditional mealtimes, whether they are hungry or not. Meals will be prepared fresh on demand as they are ordered.
We will be expanding the variety of food on offer, as well as incorporating a much greater food selection for patients with specific dietary requirements, allergies or restrictions.
Patients will get food they would like to eat, which means they are more likely to finish their meal and improve their nutritional intake. There will be an abundance of plant-based choices and selections that may appeal to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and those from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Delivering individualised food choices means that in addition to improving patients’ overall experiences and significantly reducing plate waste, which is more efficient economically and environmentally.
It also means all patients, or family members on their behalf, will be able to plan their mealtimes better around clinical treatment or tests and not miss important meals if they are away from the ward having procedures or tests.
It’s an exciting initiative which will improve the overall patient healthcare experience rolled out initially in the existing hospital and upscaled as the clinical services building comes online.
Thank you to Dietetics and Food Services Director Michelle Suter and the project team, which has worked hard to ensure we’re ready for go live tomorrow morning.
It’s a real step forward for patient care.
Take Care,
Angie.