68 thoughts on “Makes The Coombe Look Like The Ritz”

  5. They had to scrimp on the canteen in order to fund that necessary massive smoking area for pregnant women

  6. Depressing that even the places which are supposed to help your health feed you stuff that makes it very much worse, why is nobody taking charge on this like the smoking agenda. Simply because fried foods = profit?

    Sure people will “prefer” the crap meals but they should be nudged in the right direction especially in a hospital.

  8. A women who has just given birth would eat anything. They’d probably punch you for giving them a salad.

  9. I was at Holles street last year for 4 days, the food was not only disgusting but the most unhealthy food I have ever eaten. Most nights we got two greasy sausage rolls for our “tea”….. I thought hospital food was supposed to be gross cause it was too healthy and boring….. this was like eating your dinner from the Spar every night.

    • Also all they offered to drink was tea, you had to make a special request for water, which they would have to go away and get for you, if they rememebered.

      • Was the same for me 3 years ago. After being put in the room I asked for plain water and they said all they can offer is either black tea or orange juice…my boyfriend had to go out to get me bottles of water…Here you go…basics! And meals were awful, I am not a fussy eater but I couldnt touch most of the things they offered…so my boyfriend went out again to bring back me fresh fruit, salad and stew..

    • Same for me in the Coombe when I had my little girl. One of the meals one day was an incredibly overcooked steak, another day it was an incredibly overcooked pork chop. I had to get my partner to bring in fruit for me as they didn’t give us any. It’s bad enough that any patient is given unhealthy food, but giving birth really messes with your digestive system and the diet should be high in fibre to help with that.

  10. Need Jamie Oliver on the case. It is ironic that hospitals are doling out this crap. Would it kill them to give a couple of baby potatoes, plain chicken breast and some veg?

    • Jamie Oliver does a program on Irish Maternity Hospitals… oh I’d love to see the women in the Rotunda get in to rows with him. Hugh quality entertainment. It would possibly even beat Wife Swap UK.

  12. Having just eaten lunch, I feel even sicker then I normally would looking at this. No wonder there are so many fat kids about the place

  14. I hope enough people formalise their complaints to the hospital / HSE. I waged a war with restaurants over a period of time because of their exclusive ‘kiddies’ menu of fried crap. Admittedly it is easier to generate change in the commercial sector – as a customer – as opposed to the Goliath that is the public sector. But if you feel strongly enough, get some nutritional experts onboard and crack away at it. Probably far more constructive than posting phone pics.

  15. Whinge, moan, righteous indignation and random comment laughing at working class people (even though our parents were working class and raised us so well that we all became middle class professionals).

    • Ah, there was an auld commenter called Jockstrap who’d get on well with you. Left mysteriously. You both have so much in common.

    • Jesus you’re a tool. It is clear, if you had anything by the way of reading comprehension, that the issue here is the fact that Maternity hospitals are serving food without nutritional merit to patients who need sustenance. The deep fried crap served in both examples today raise awareness about the need for greater nutrition.

      • I most likely have far better reading comprehension than you do. I just don’t happen to think that the food served to patients who are only in for a few days is that important.

        • Well, it is. Moreover, it indicates a carelessness about care that doesn’t bode well for the rest of the hospital – if they’re willing to feed crap to patients, will they wash their hands often enough? Will they be careful enough about paperwork? Laziness creeps through institutions like that.

  17. Meh – most people unfortunate enough to be admitted to public hospital are not there for long enough for a few fried dinners to have any real impact on their health.

    Obviously it would be great if the catering was up to private hospital standard but there’s a reason why it isn’t: cost.

    The health budget is being cut again. I would rather that the food stay shite than some other area get cut any further.

    • If Jaime Oliver proved anything in his better school dinners movement is that good food does NOT have to be costly. Educate yourself.

    • I’d rather they got rid of the excess managers who are draining the system and did their own in-house catering like they used to 30 years ago – then you got healthy food or starved.

  18. I’d love to see the statistics of what the mothers would choose to have if given the choice between Exhibit A or a Salad. If it was the fried food spectacular, sure isn’t better that they’re having something to eat rather than leaving the salad.

    • Why does it have to be either or? Simple potatoes, meat and veg would be better than what’s served above. Given women who have recently given birth are likely to suffer crippling constipation the fact that there’s nary a bit of fibre in the reported meals is cause alone for concern.

  19. Most people in hospitals are sick or in recovery.
    In these scenarios the body needs lots of energy to fuel the immune system. Simple carbohydrates provided by chips and other fried foods are great for this.
    They’re also cheap and it also happens that lots of people like them. Bonus.

    In the case of new mothers, they’ll be needing ~675 extra calories per day if breastfeeding and will have expended a huge amount of energy giving birth.

    There are highly trained professionals in our hospitals overseeing these meals. They know what they’re doing.

    • They won’t really get a lot of other nutrients out of chips and that battered.. something.. though.

      • No, but this is just the evening meal. I’m sure there would have been some form of veg with the main meal of the day.

        Can’t really comment further without more details of the specific case, but on it’s own there’s nothing necessarily wrong with some chips and fried *something* as an evening meal for a recovering new mother.

        Reaction in this and the other thread seems largely based on misconceptions, ill-informed and way over the top.

  20. I’ve never had Irish hospital food myself, but I’m quite shocked at the sight of these ‘meals’, stuff like that just shouldn’t be served in a hospital. Things like vegetables, rice, noodles, etc. are cheap, esp. if bought in bulk, so I can’t see how it would be so much more expensive to serve food that hasn’t been fried.

  21. Unfortunately, food safety is another reason for the overcooked food. Hospitals are terrified of a food poisoning outbreak so all food is over-boiled/fried/roasted to obliteration to prevent this. A food poisoning outbreak would be disasterous for patients whose immune system is compromised.

  22. why are people making the assumption that salad = healthy

    there are many more alternatives to this muck!
    we don’t need to go to a salad

    what about a proper fillet of chicken with baby potatoes and veg.
    or a shepherds pie made with veg and topped with mash
    even a tomato based curry with vegetables in would be amazingly healthy compared to these pictures

    and all will provide the necessary carbs, calories and nutrients that someone who is sick or breastfeeding

  23. Nobody’s mentioning that they kept a photo of a crappy dinner for over 3 years? Nobody??

  24. I had that 2weeks ago in rotunda. I’ve had all 3 boys in rotunda and defo noticed the quality this time.. Ihad chips with all meals, for lunch I had fish and chips with a small amount of peas.. For tea I had above chicken drumstick and chips, and next day had cereal and slice of toast with 1/3 glass of orange and for lunch was chicken and mushroom volovant with cips.. No veg other than peas and mushroom (and orange juice)
    With my boys I had veg and mash and was a lot nicer..that was only 2.5 years ago and 4yrs ago..

    • What in Christ’s name does Sky have to do with it. It cost €4000 to go private, you’d want Rupert Murdoch giving you a blow job while you watch football for that price. Fool.

    • Private is not much better and really only makes people feel smug among their peers.

      My sisters went private for their first kids and then all went public after that because the care was better and more consultants on call in one place.

  26. I was in Holles St recently and found the food surprisingly decent…pretty varied and plentiful. It wasnt overcooked chips for every meal (and the fish that came with them was very good) but usually once a day the option was chicken with a load of veg and salads and a slice of brown bread on the side.

  27. I was in Holles Street in 2008 and 2011 and I thought the food was ok with a good choice. i had no problems getting water, there was even a water machine in the room.