Luciana Berger MP, Labour’s Shadow Public Health Minister, responding to the Government announcement on hospital food, said:

“Everyone wants to see the quality of hospital food improved, but without proper enforcement there is a risk that these new standards will simply be ignored.

“It is regrettable that Jeremy Hunt has published these standards without consulting with patients and it is worrying that some experts have described the standards as ‘weak’ and ‘woefully inadequate’.

“If Jeremy Hunt is serious about improving patients’ experience of the NHS then he must also address the crisis in A&E and the growing waiting lists for operations.”