Towards patient-centric food services in acute NHS hospitals: A case study approach.

Results: The main contribution of this study is the contextualization of various factors affecting food services in acute NHS hospitals whereby a major private food and service management firm operates. Going beyond traditional boundaries, this study explores patients' value systems in detail, enabling the author to apprehend patients' food choices when hospitalised. Adding to the ones identified in the literature, this study identified a further six impediments to consumer-centric food service strategies: 1) A lack of empowerment of front-line staff from both NHS staff and staff from the private food service management firm, 2) A high employee turnover rate within the private food service management firm, 3) Insufficient involvement of line managers in the food service delivery process, 4) An overall top-down approach to planning within the NHS, 5) A lack of understanding of patients' soft factors by front-line staff involved in the food delivery process, 6) NHS staff looking down on the skills from the staff of the private food service management firm.To solve the problems highlighted, this study confirmed the approaches identified in the literature: the creation of multidisciplinary teams as well as the need to provide information to the staff from the private food service management firm during the nurses' handover. Based on the data collected and analysed in this study, a holistic theoretical model of the requirements of patient-centric experiences and satisfaction with hospital food services was developed.