Our experiences have been mixed but at least there are always three courses even if the quantities are a little small!
With playing rugby I've been in hospital from Limoges to La Rochelle. On each occaision I have found the food excellent with the exception of La Rochelle - it was minging.
Funniest was Girac (Angouleme) where dinner was a pork chop and veg. On seeing my still full plate, the nurse asked are you not hungry. I tried to reply with my broken jaw, but couldn't really move my mouth to speak, let alone eat.
I found it great comparable to what i was served in the UK.
However, when my wife was in the maternity ward i informed the care staff thatnmy wife does not eat beef (no, shes not hindu, she just thinks cows are cute… And ducks. Its ok to eat chicken because there stupid. “What about pork” i said, “pigs are smart and you eat bacon”, she has yet to get back to me on this one)
Any how they kindly made a note. A couple of days later when one of the meals were served a plate of “Veau”. When i pointed this out to the care girl she honestly had NO idea that it was beef, and a baby one at that! She wad very sorry and a replacement meal arrived. I really enjoyed that mistake, yum!
Just as an aside: At the Mayo Clinic's Hospital in Florida there is no 'feeding' time. My friend was allowed to order off an extensive menu at any time, just like room service. I don't know if all patients could do that though. She said the food was quite good.
I have had a couple of stays in a clinique in Limoges, just for a few days at a time having surgery for cancer. Found the food excellent compared to the UK. Breakfast, dejeuner and diner, all good to eat and balanced.
I was in Libourne hospital in September for a replacement knee operation. As we only eat free range meat...(mostly chicken...never pork etc)...I told them I was a vegetarian...which threw them completely. However ...bless their hearts they did their best to provide me with something nutritious. Breakfast was a soup bowl of weak tea...often the hot water was in it...and I then had to add a tea bag...(I should have chosen the hot chocolate)...plus a cake. I'm not a cake person...especially for breakfast...so I gave them to my beloved when he visited me. I loved the soup...and fish dishes...but many courses usually ended up down the loo as they were generally very cold...but bless them...they were vegetarian.I had a LOT of haricot beans...in different guises. I ate the fruit...and yoghurt. I mainly lived on the fruit my beloved bought in for me. In truth I wasn't hungry...and lost 4 lbs in 10 days which I didn't mind at all.
The catering staff were very kind...and offered me many options...but I simply didn't understand the French menus. Not their fault.
No complaints.
My experience of 2 times in different hospitals is that it depends on who is supplying the food. The first time it was poor - centrally cooked by a well-known contract company (S0 . . . H0) that supplied all the hospitals and other public places in this area. It was luke-warm at best and soggy to a mash. Second time it was prepared on site and good quality hot food - but only very limited choice, often chicken or fish.
I've stayed in the same hospital twice, both times for maternity. The first time the food was disgusting, I couldn't wait to leave. It was tasteless, unappetising and insipid. The second time, 4 years later, it was great. Tasty and appealing.
I can't remember what we had to eat (it was 11yrs ago).
My experience in Sallanches maternity hospital was very disappointing. Not enough to feed a flea and extremely tasteless, I had food brought in to supplement it. Even the midwife warned us to take breakfast cereal in with us and ask for an extra cup of milk at breakfast as she said that the hospital didn't supply enough food for breast feeding mothers.
Again, only one drink offered in the day at gouter time, with baby no 2 I took my own kettle in - note that in France you are in hospital days for the birth of a baby.
My toddler was hospitalised for 5 days with gastro and when she came of the drip, she was given a restricted diet of carrots, ham and rice followed by apple compote. That apparently, is the 'regime' for it.
Have been in a (smaller, private) hospital in France for some broken bones due to being overrun by a 4X4. Since my ailments didn't result in dietary restrictions I had a talk with the dietitian of the hospital and I was surprised that she asked me about my lifestyle. Because I was doing a lot of rugby and rowing she decided to put me on an adapted diet that would keep me physically in reasonable shape so I would be able to resume these activities as soon as possible.
Compared to Dutch hospitals the food had actually taste, they used fresh ingredients, herbs etc and you didn't have the impression that everything is boiled down to a pulp, f.e. a chicken-filet is really roasted instead of boiled of. The only thing that I missed was an occasional red to go with it, although oodstuffs deemed "bad" for your health were nevertheless on the menu, but in reasonable quantities.
Presentation is a bit the same, these awful segmented plates under a plastic cover.
I have had two spells of nearly a week to 10 days in Bergerac, plus some short stays. The food is foul. I have a slight gluten problem and told them early on but I was only given pieces of baguette, often quite stale at that. I also have a low calorie and carbohydrate diet that was not as strict then but now I dread to think. I said that red meat was off, that paté or the like was no go but what was served to me as a starter? Guessed already, right in one. I made it very clear that I need to eat raw or near raw vegetable matter and fruit with the exception of a few like bananas and avocados, but was consistently given bananas. they were constantly trying to convince me to 'eat' the soups they offered every other day, but they were so disgustingly salty I could not bear them.
I was on strong pain killers the first time round and hardly had a clear head, but still took the effort to explain. So, first stay, in orthopaedics I effectively went on hunger strike. Second stay, cardiology where you think they might listen, I was in for six full days and lost a lot of weight, surviving only on what my wife brought in that was mainly (my request) fruit. When I left on the seventh day I was phsyically weak, although I had gone in for tests and not something wrong! The short stay for 48 hours, the dietician finally came to listen to me, dismissed what I had to say about pre-diabetic blood counts because nobody had given her test results, said that gluten problems are mostly in the mind and that was that. As for menus, never saw one, or any choice.
I went in for a Reveal heart monitor implant to be removed (my heart is near perfect, so no problem and out it came) but the surgeon nicked a small artery in my chest that bled profusely. So, instead of a couple of hours I was admitted to cardiology for the day for observation. When a nurse came to see to my needs, she happened to be the mother of one daughter's classmate, so 'knows' me. I explained but embellished slightly by saying that I am a vegetarian. She brought me a selection of fruit and some raw celery, wholegrain bread and a piece of cheese. That was because it was somebody who knows me, since when I talked to her for a moment about what she had done she more or less explained that the hospital does not do what people want but only responds to instructions from medical or nutritional personnel in writing. So, that means a vegetarian going into hospital needs to have a prescription for following their diet in Bergerac? Comparing notes with people who have been to other hospitals or Bergerac and others, some are much the same and others sound pretty good in comparison.
Shame for your father in law...I do understand the cost restraints with food, but post surgery is a good indication of eating whatever you can tolerate. If you can eat a hot balanced meal (rather than giving away your sandwiches ) this might help him get better quicker and leave the hospital sooner. just saying.....
Thanks for sharing your experience! I believe, in general, the food is lower in salt (with the option of adding yourself). I agree with this, it is easier to add to your own taste. Plus, the hospital should 'show' the example of a moderate salt diet. Bon continuation with your girls!
I should add the uk was also maternity not surgery, although my father in law is currently in hospital post surgery and he keeps getting sandwiches too which he tries to pass off to his visitors!
Mary, oh yes. I've been in Beziers hospital three times.2 in maternity and once in surgical ward. Each time I was given a choice of menu 3 or 4 courses. Vegetables for starters or soup (you needed to add the salt and pepper to give flavour to the soup but it was reasonable) or chacuterie
. The main courses were fish or meat sometimes in a tasty sauce with vegetable. Carbs were in the form of a small bread roll I recall. I had cheese and a piece of fruit and yoghurt or a petit suisse with jam or chestnut spread.
I kept my menus as souvenirs from the girls births. Overall I thought the menus were well balanced, tasty and nutritious. The meals came in little trays with cellophane seal not plated but I didn't mind that as the food was good. The only criticism I had was that they didn't give me eniugh to drink between meals. only a cup of tea at 4pm.
Contrast to the Uk where the onky options were sandwiches or toast.
I have a question, do you pay for food at the hospital because I was told so, so am wondering if it’s normal?
I’ve never paid for the meals.
The food in The Cheneux in Limoges was excellent, the food in the Claude Bernard in Albi was ok ish.
Hi @Adebayo_Grace and welcome to SF
There is a cost but it depends on your circumstances and whether you have hospital cover with your mutuelle.
Towards the end of the article it talks about the forfait journalier hospitalier, a daily charge of €20 (or whatever it currently stands at) towards the cost of your stay - bed, meals, heating etc, provided you are admitted for at least 24 hours. If you present your mutuelle on admission, you may not see the charge at all as it will be presented directly to the assurer.
You, or your mutuelle, will have paid the forfait journalier. Which covers the means.
France does not have a health system that is free at the point of service, like the uk. So many things are charged for and whether you actaully pay or not depends on your circumstances.