The Hospital Catering Report also found that patients believed an improvement had been made in the range of food available since 2015, with 41% that believe there is a good choice of food in hospitals, up from 33%.
Oliver Griffiths, research manager at YouGov, said: “Hospital food has long had a notoriously bad reputation but this data shows that patients and visitors believe that things are starting to improve. While perception has begun to change, it must be remembered that it did so from a low starting point.”
The report also shows that issues still remain with hospital catering as 32% of NHS visitors and patients believe hospital food doesn’t taste good.
The study found that while 74% of NHS hospital patients and visitors would pay to improve food choice and standard, 64% would be willing to pay less than £3.
Griffiths said: “People accept that food is an important part of a hospital stay. But the fact that so many people are willing to pay their own money to be guaranteed getting fresh, quality, healthy meals suggests that there is still a long way to go.”
For the report, YouGov surveyed 1,825 adults over 16-years-old who had eaten in both NHS and private hospitals and worked in a hospital in the last five years.