Australia’s strained hospitals and aged care sectors need cost saving measures – researchers say food waste improvement could mean millions recouped for better use

According to the country’s state health ministers, hospitals around the country are in dire straits. With increased ambulance ramping rates, occupancy at maximum, care and the quality of it, is undergoing increasing strain and obstacles. From NSW’s Minns, to Perth’s Cook, premiere’s across the country have increased their blunt barbs towards Canberra and its funding of hospitals and aged care. While the reform discussion plays out in government circles, researchers at the University of Queensland are keen to stress that cost saving measures can be enacted with immediate effect through adopting new technology to reduce food wastage. Money, now, can be put towards innumerable other areas of need.

Cost effective spending

Food waste expert Dr Nathan Cook has made a career of examining large organisational processing surrounding food, cost and improvement. From extensive research he says that Australia’s hospitals and aged care facilities have the potential to save money, resources and time with improved tracking of uneaten meals.

Within UQ’s School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, he and his team have researched and examined food procedure and planning across a wide range of Australia’s hospital and aged care facilities, what they have found means business.

For hospitals, their research has found that a staggering half of all hospital waste is found within its food offerings and associated costs. While lower, still 23 to 50 per cent of food in RAC facilities has been found to be thrown out.

Professional and personal conviction

As an academic and Australian, Dr Cook describes being impacted by witnessing the sheer amounts of waste found within some of Australia’s most important institutions.

He shares that it was a personal shock, at the waste of not only food but also labour and resources, that could be going into other areas of care, that has propelled him to use his academic excellence to try and navigate for actionable and impactful progress.

Dr Cook shares, “my motivation comes from working in hospitals and seeing plates and plates of food go out to patients and then come back completely untouched and going into the bin.”

He says, “it baffled me — not just from a sustainability point of view, but the labour and time that goes into preparing food that ends up in landfill.”

“As well as providing cost savings, reducing food waste cuts greenhouse gas emissions, lowers disposal costs, and supports a more sustainable healthcare system that is better for patients by providing the food they want to eat.”

Change is needed now

Dr Cook, along with industry leaders, advocacy groups and consultancy firms are in agreement, acknowledging the very real financial pressures on the healthcare sector, and ethical drive to pursue environmental agendas to mitigate food waste, evidenced research must bolster effective reform.

Cook and his team have and continue to research how to improve measuring and measuring food processing and auditing better, so as to provide hospital and aged care leaders with support in realising the significantly needed reform and cost-saving measures.

Cook notes, “auditing is the first step towards finding solutions but most food waste audits in hospitals are manual and ad-hoc, often relying on students during placements.”

“That might happen twice a year in hospitals and almost never in residential aged care”, he says.

“If we measure food waste, we can identify what’s being left behind and why patients are rejecting it.”

Cook and his research is about effective and evidenced findings to underpin updated policy and procedure for these large organisations, to save money on waste, while maintaining and even being able to elevate care.

“The data can help guide simple changes — things like offering flexible portion sizes, more meal choices or adjusting mealtimes — that reduce waste without compromising care.”

New tech

The team sees leveraging new technologies without compromising human jobs to be a way forward to save on the auditing process of food waste.

Cook suggests AI-based technologies being able to solve auditing problems, actioning fast and accurate measurements that would not have been possible through human-labour channels. This would mean where care is needed from humans, such as quality food service preparation and operations, these offerings could continue without being interrupted.

He says, “these tools can photograph and analyse plates before and after meals, providing data on what was eaten and what was left, without adding extra work to kitchen staff.”

Overseas learnings

In collating and studying studies conducted overseas, Cook highlights that changes in policy and procedure after hospital audits on food led to significant savings.

A small hospital implemented changes in food purchasing and saw $200,000 a year saved, while that number increased further in reduced preparation and disposal demands.

With a more finessed food procedure policy, hospitals and aged care facilities have the option to alleviate pressure on front-line staff to only pursue quantity. Reduced time towards preparing and disposing has the potential to open up strategies for increased quality and variety, a key focus of the new act in providing dignified and person-centred care.

Cook is encouraged about what overseas and his own domestic findings can mean for Australia and its vital institutions, “I am keen to see auditing innovation adopted in Australia.”

“It would allow us to measure, change, and measure again, creating a cycle of improvement that benefits everyone.”

“By starting with measurement, we can identify small, realistic steps to have a big impact and help achieve Australia’s national target to halve food waste by 2030.”