Greggs sausage rolls up the leaderboard in hospital food poll
A ranking of the healthiest providers of hospital food revealed that one of the nation's favourite bakeries was narrowly pipped to the top spot.
The "Healthy Hospital Food: 2016 Brand League Table" compared the performance of how well companies meet NHS England targets on healthy checkouts, food advertising and price promotions in hospitals.
Although the Royal Voluntary Service and AMT Coffee took the top two spots, Greggs came in a narrow third.
The top three companies were the only ones on the list that have made a commitment to meeting key targets across four different areas by January next year.
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| Rank | Company |
| 1 | Royal Voluntary Service |
| 2 | AMT Coffee |
| 3 | Greggs |
| 4 | Pret A Manger |
| 5 | ISS |
| 6 | Marks & Spencer |
| 7= | Costa |
| 7= | Medirest |
| 7= | Sodexo |
| 7= | Starbucks |
| 7= | WH Smith |
| 12 | Subway |
| 13 | Burger King |
According to the Campaign for Better Hospital Food the two companies propping up the table had provided "no response and/or commitment to meet targets" in three of the four areas surveyed, something that Katherine Button from the campaign called "disappointing".
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She added:
The healthier option should be the easier option in hospitals, and at the moment Subway and Burger King appear to be holding back moves towards a healthier NHS.
NHS England has a number of targets that it has asked every shop, cafe and restaurant operating on a hospital site to meet before the end of 2017. These are:
- A ban on price promotions on sugary drinks and foods high in fat, salt and sugar.
- A ban advertising of sugary drinks and foods high in fat, salt and sugar.
- A ban from checkouts all sugary drinks and foods high in fat, salt and sugar.
- To co-operate with NHS England to supply the detail of their hospital contracts, including value and time remaining on existing hospital contracts, along with data on sales volumes for sugar sweetened beverages.