Queen Elizabeth university hospital Glasgow southern general

An unexpected review

I had a recent stay in the spanking new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital aka The Southern/ Suffrin in Glasgow, This gave me a chance to try some NHS food.

Having not being prepared for the visit I was a tad hungry by the time breakfast arrived the next morning. I was a little anxious as the last time I’d had food in The Southern years back it was awful.

Rice Krispies, toast with jam and butter and tea. 9/10. A perfect cup of tea, lots of Rice Krispies, ideally toasted toast but the jam seemed to have forgotten to be introduced to the fruit.

A good start.

With the joys of a room to myself, I soon looked forward to lunchtime and some human interaction!

Split pea and vegetable soup with a slice of white bread. Not as thick as I like my soup but nonetheless a pleasant soup. Some more stock flavour would be good. 7/10

My visit must have been written in the stars – Mac and Cheese was on the menu! Overcooked pasta and a gloopy “cheese” sauce. The banana was good 😂 5/10

It wasn’t long until it was dinner time. What delights tonight?! Can you tell I was getting a bit lonely in my room?

Look at that skill, perfectly cubed carrots. Served alongside “creamed potato” and I think chicken supreme. The potato tasted as watery as the carrots. The creamy chicken was OK.

Rhubarb crumble with custard. The rhubarb was surprisingly tasty. Tart and firm, against the watery custard and mush of crumble. 2/10 for tonight’s food, just as I had remembered it from last time.

Day 2

Breakfast was weetabix and a cup of tea. Not as good a cuppa today, but still passable. 8/10

By lunchtime I was hungry. More soup to start as yesterday’s was good. Another good day for soup, not as good as home made of course more like canned soup with a bit extra water. 7/10

I’d decided to try a sandwich for lunch today seeing as the hot meal was …. well not very tasty. Salmon mayonnaise sandwich and a yoghurt.

Lots of fish and creamy mayo on fresh bread. I enjoyed it so much that I’ve been making salmon mayo sandwiches now at home! Tasty yoghurt. 10/10

A sandwich does not keep a Mrs Foodie full till dinner time I tell ye. Hungry as… just as well now had like a grocers shop worth of fruit to keep me going.

Looks appetising doesn’t it? Smoked mackerel salad with salad cream. Good cucumber and salad leaves, the tomatoes were those watery tasteless ones. Creamy slaw and added bonus of a sachet of salad cream. Tasty yoghurt again. 8/10

Day 3

By this point entertainment was low so I decided to play Russian roulette with the breakfast and picked porridge.

Back to better tea today, toast with jam and butter plus porridge with milk. I added the jam to the porridge for taste. Gloopy porridge swimming in milk, needed to be mixed through better but once this happened it was OK. As Dyatlov would say..

7/10

By lunch time I’d found out that I was getting home, hurrah! I was so excited that I can’t remember the type of soup for today, possibly pea? It was munched and tasty again. 7/10

More fish, this time a tuna mayo baked potato served alongside the trusty yoghurt.

Looking sad on the plate but surprisingly edible and moreish. Superb tuna mayo mixture. 10/10!!

Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to The Suffrin and head home. That wasn’t the end of my hospital food journey. A week later an out patient visit to Golden Jubilee Hospital meant I got to try their food as well.

After my test it was tea and toast time.

I think the NHS makes the best toast ever, or is it you’re just starving by that point? Excellent toast but average tea. 7/10 with the toast pulling up the score.

Post test monitoring meant that I got to eat lunch as well. I’d learned my lesson and ordered soup and a sandwich. After hearing that the food at the jubilee was far superior to QEUH, I was disappointed. Average soup, watery vegetable and the cheese and tomato sandwich had that cold and slimey tomato sandwich taste. (That’ll be because it’s a tomato sandwich!)

So in a QEUH v Golden Jubilee match, is surprisingly say that QEUH won! Presentation needs working on, and maybe taste with the hot food. Overall, not great but not terrible.

Thanks to the staff at QEUH and Golden Jubilee for their support and care ❤️ I’m happy to report that I’m as fit as I’ll ever be and tests came back with no action needed to keep me around for longer!

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