"Cardiology - clinical care great, but menu..."

I was admitted to Rowan Ward as my heart failure had become decompensated and I was accumulating fluid in my legs and chest. I lost 7kg in weight the very first night, so the treatment was very effective.

However, my main criticism is about the menu offered to patients on the wards. It was very low fat and full of starchy carbohydrates i.e. in line with the current dietary guidelines set by Public Health England, and hence responsible for the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes we suffer from as a nation. Breakfast was the worst, with little option but cereal (killers - geddit?) followed by starchy toast, almost a complete carb-fest. Do people realise just how many teaspoonfuls of sugar-equivalent the above meal contains... and that's without the inevitable glass of "healthy" fruit juice?

The "enemy" is not cholesterol (as the doctors seem to think), but sugar and the starchy carbohydrates that are easily turned into sugar, that the hospital seems so keen to promote to its patients. Whatever happened to the recommendations made by chef James Martin about hospital food back in 2012? Seriously, please look again at the menu...urgently!