THE POTATOES are like skittles and the rhubarb and custard is bitter enough to leave your false teeth rattling...that's one opinion of hospital meals at Bolton. But are hospital rations really stuck in the dark ages and universally hated? A special report by Gayle Evans. A DEBATE about the standard of hospital meals opened up a can of worms at the latest Community Health Council meeting.

Health experts recalled some of their personal experiences of the grub dished out to patients at the town's NHS hospital.

CHC member John Bragg revealed a recent stay in the Minerva Road hospital proved a hungry one.

Awful

Mr Bragg told the health watchdogs: "The food was awful. They don't use spices such as salt and pepper or sugar.

"I couldn't touch a morsel. The potatoes were like skittles. And I thought I'll try the rhubarb and custard. That should set me right.

"I bit into it and I nearly shot up on the ceiling. Every bone in my body rattled. Even my false teeth were rattling. It was so bitter."

Pensioner Mr Bragg claimed he was not the only patient struggling to swallow the meals.

He said: "There were eight in the ward and no-one seemed to touch his plate. There was only one man who did -- and he brought his own salt and pepper from home!"

Mr Bragg claimed one of the patients was going home for the weekend "to get some decent food".

He said: "Patients are going to the restaurant and paying for food that is meant for visitors and staff rather than eat the hospital meals.

"The presentation is all over the place. The food looks like it has just been thrown on a plate."

But Joyce Watt, of the CHC, defended the meals service saying patients have a "good choice".

But she admitted that there could be room for improvement. She said: "We really need people to complain about it."

Anne Bain added: "Food is an integral part of a patient's recovery. If they don't eat, they don't recover. It's a very difficult area. You can't please everyone all the time."

But CHC members agreed that there was a difference between personal taste -- and under-cooked potatoes.

They said they had received reports that healthy food was going into the kitchens -- but was "going wrong" by the time it reached the patients.

However, the Royal Bolton Hospital strongly deny that food served in the plush restaurant is better than that put before patients.

They say external auditors recently carried out a survey with seven out of 10 patients giving the thumbs up to hospital grub.

The hospital say the menu is created by dieticians and caters for the needs of hundreds of in-patients including special menus for vegetarians and ethnic minorities.

A spokesman said: "We are surpised by the complaints and we will take up the gentleman's comments and look into them.

"But a lot of effort goes into making sure the food is good. There is no difference between what is served up to our patients and what is in the restaurant." DIRECTOR of operations, Beverley Andrew, said: "We consistently do well in patient satisfaction audits and receive many complimentary letters.

"However, we are not complacent. We always take comments seriously and we will look into Mr Bragg's concerns."

Head of Hotel Services at the hospital, Nigel Palmer, added: "It is difficult for us to please everyone when it comes to things such as how sweet a dish is, however we do keep our patients' views under constant review so that if a general trend comes to light we can make adjustments."

The hospital also says in its defence:

Catering staff dish up 1,000 lunches for patients a day and 500 midday snacks and meals in the restaurants. In the last 12 months, we have only had two formal complaints about catering and one of those was service in the restaurant.

Only four per cent of our patients gave the food less then five out of ten. We were the fourth best of the 32 hospitals surveyed by the NHS Executive national audiotrs.

The main dishes on the ward menu are also available in the restaurant and side dishes such as custard are excatly the same.

Patients unhappy with their meal can discuss their concerns with a catering representative.

BEN reader Anne Marie Martin nominated the catering staff at the hospital for the BEN bouquet of the week last summer. She was quoted as saying: "I thought the food was delicious, beautifully prepared and presented with lots of choice. I never imagined hospital food could taste so good!

Vistors actually choose to make a special trip to the hospital restaurant at weekends for a tasty meal