Hospital Food Standards
In the summer of 2019, the Secretary of State for Health announced a "root and branch" review of food served and sold in hospitals. The scope of the review included the safety, nutrition, quality and production methods of food for patients, staff and visitors in NHS hospitals.
	The Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food 13 - published on 26 October 2020 – made a series of recommendations across a range of areas to improve standards for food served to patients and staff, including:
Catering staff support
Nutrition and hydration
Food safety
Facilities
Technology
Enforcing standards
Sustainability and waste
	As well as recommendations on the above areas, the Hospital Food Review recommended improved NHS food and drink standards for patients, staff and visitors to be put on a statutory footing to ensure a level playing field and compliance across the sector so far as nutritional standards in hospitals are concerned.
	This Act amends section 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care with powers to make regulations imposing requirements relating to food or drink provided or sold to patients, staff, visitors or anyone else on hospital premises in England. Such requirements include the power to specify nutritional standards, or other nutritional requirements, such as to specify descriptions of food or drink that are not to be provided or made available.
	This is in line with the recommendations of the Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food.
	Any regulations made under the provisions of this Act will be enforced by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) pursuant to their existing statutory powers of enforcement under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The CQC may consider compliance with any regulations made under this power when undertaking routine inspections of hospitals. The CQC only has the power to inspect hospital premises which are providers of regulated activities as defined in Section 8 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The section will not therefore apply to premises that are not within its regulatory remit.