Industry leaders are being invited to attend the first meeting, which will be held at the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) forum in Belfast from April 6th-7th.
Paul Howell, head of commercial at Anglia Crown, said: “We are setting up the working group to raise awareness of the real-life circumstances that every caterer and each hospital has to work under.
“Fewer hospitals than ever have in-house cooking facilities or the funds to maintain these and many more caterers now operate under private finance initiative (PFI) contracts.
“Hospital caterers do not choose the environment they work in and they do not have the power to change it. What they can do is provide the most nutritious and economically viable meal solution within the confines they work in.
“The working group is a great opportunity for the industry to get behind the big issues and scope out what can be achieved to continue providing high standards within hospital catering.”
The working group will seek to recognise the diversity of NHS catering nationally and the solutions available within those environments.