AN ELDERLY Hampshire patient went hungry when caterers failed to feed her properly, it has been claimed.

Florence Smith, 96, who lives in an annexe at her daughter Denna Parkyn’s home, went into hospital four weeks ago with leg ulcers.

Southampton General Hospital has apologised following the claim that she was not properly fed.

The issue is the latest in a string of complaints about meals at the hosptial.

Son-in-law David Parkyn, 58, said that, when admitted, Florence was underweight and needed building up.

Instead, catering staff apparently ignored her side ward on several occasions.

Sometimes the next day’s menu was not given to her and some staff appeared not to understand her needs, he claimed.

“They’d bring all the things she didn’t need because she needed building up, and some days she didn’t get anything,” he said.

“The staff dish out what they’ve got and, if the menu isn’t taken, the patient just sits there wondering what’s happening.”

One day she requested soup but received a diabetic patient’s food, he claimed.

Another night a tray with a glass of milk arrived, but the rest of the requested meal was missing.

She correctly went without food the day before an operation but, because she was unable to fill in the menu form for the following day’s meals, she went hungry for a second day, alleged Mr Parkyn, who lives near Sway in the New Forest.

“The problem for me is that it seems to be rife throughout the hospital,” he said.

“The catering manager has come to see us and taken her menu away, but that’s only my mother-in-law. What’s happening throughout the rest of the hospital?

“There’s nothing wrong with the nursing care. The nurses are fantastic. But the nurses don’t control the catering, they work alongside each other.”

Last year the trust awarded a private company Medirest the five-year £17m contract to supply the meals that are pre-prepared in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and then steamed in microwaves in ward kitchens.

Criticisms highlighted by the Daily Echo included meals turning up late or not at all, food temperatures not being checked and patients’ dietary requirements being ignored.

But after a four-week action plan to improve catering standards, bosses at Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Southampton General and the Princess Anne, say the service is getting better.

Steve McManus, hospital chief operating officer, said: “I am very sorry to hear that Mrs Smith has experienced these problems with her patient meals. Obviously the service her family has described falls well below the level of what we wish to provide, and one of our catering supervisors will be looking at what has happened as a matter of urgency.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK

Is the hospital meals service getting better? Let us know what you think. Contact Clare Kennedy at the Daily Echo, test Lane, Redbridge, Southampton, SO16 9JX, or phone 023 8042 4500 or email clare.kennedy@dailyecho. co.uk.