"sour milk giving out"

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have been having discussions on this matter with catering and are hopeful of an improvement. Please do let us know if this does however, continue.

Good evening

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback and apologies for a delay in a formal response. I have liaised with our facilities manger and the following response has been provided, I hope you find this useful:

All milk deliveries are checked when they arrive at the delivery bay of the main kitchen at Rampton Hospital. The supplier is contracted to supply milk with a good shelf life and delivery checks have confirmed milk is being delivered with a 6- 8 days life until it reaches its use by date. As part of the delivery receipt process, milk temperatures are checked on arrival and records confirm milk is arriving at Rampton within the correct temperature range. Milk is immediately unloaded, stored in the refrigerator, waiting picking and distribution, where Facilities staff deliver direct to the wards on a daily basis. Orders will be rejected if they fail to meet these checks, or they show signs of damage during transit.

Wards have been advised to ensure milk is refrigerated immediately on arrival to the ward, ensuring stock rotation is followed. It is not advisable that milk should taken into patient bedrooms, which will also shorten the quality of the milk life without the correct storage facilities. Facilities services are committed to ensuring the correct messages are communicated, including discussing at the food group meetings and supporting ward managers, highlighting the importance of milk storage. Once milk is delivered on a ward, it should immediately be stored in the refrigerators with correct stock rotation.

Facilities do listen and use patient feedback when meeting with approved suppliers, the recent feedback in relation to sour milk has been discussed, trust wide, with no further concerns being raised across the trust in relation to sour milk.

We do acknowledge milk has previously been supplied in “tetra” packs rather than the current plastic bottles, and this is something that will be considered, based on patient feedback, during the next tender agreement, which is due for renewal later this year.

Thank you for your feedback noting that milk is put straight into the fridge when delivered onto your ward. Please be assured the fresh milk continues to be quality checked on receipt of delivery into the main Kitchen, where suitable dates are checked before accepting delivery. There have been no reports of short dated milk being delivered and all recent milk deliveries have met quality control checks. The catering team have also undertaken taste and smell testing, of milk samples at the end of the use-by date, all which were noted as good.

We believe the recent experience of sour milk was an isolated incident and the quality assurance is in place to avoid this happening again.

Steve Bradshaw has confirmed his attendance at the food and shop meetings and continues to collate all valued patient feedback. He agreed the milk packaging options (tetra packaging) would be included when the milk contract is under review. The current plastic milk bottles will remain in the short term and the quality assurance measures in place will hopefully avoid any further reports of sour milk.

When further updates are available on the milk contract renewal, the catering team will communicate and update you via the food and and shop groups. We do value your feedback and participation at the patient food and shop meetings.