Sustainable healthcare case study: Serving up bush tucker at Fiona Stanley Hospital
Wednesday 30 November 2022
Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) is a large public hospital with 783 beds, located in Perth, WA. As a GGHH Pacific member, FSH is focusing on food, and has designed a bush tucker menu (food native to Australia eaten by Aboriginal people), resulting in an increase in patient satisfaction and more sustainable sourcing of ingredients.
The problem
Health services in Australia are encouraged to provide meal options which meet the cultural needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Meals for Aboriginal patients were being sourced from a local pre-prepared meal provider, as opposed to being prepared fresh in house like other meals at the hospital. These meals were more expensive, arriving frozen, and made it difficult to meet the various needs of patients. In particular, many patients have difficulty swallowing, and need custom meals prepared for them.
Goal
- Create a bush tucker menu to meet the cultural needs of Aboriginal patients
- Improve patient satisfaction
The process
To create a bush tucker menu that could accommodate cultural, nutritional, and individual needs of patients, significant consultation with dietetics, speech pathologists, and local Aboriginal representatives.
took place. The decisions about meat, spices, cooking methods were all Aboriginal-led to ensure a bottom-up and empowerment-focused method design. Once a menu had been agreed to, it was only offered to Aboriginal patients. However, after seeing success and positive results from Aboriginal patients, bush tucker was made available to all patients for lunch and dinner.
The outcome
- Approximately 40-60 bush tucker meals are ordered every month
- In 2021, Fiona Stanley Hospital was recognised for this initiative by the WA Project of the Year Award Winner by The Institute of Hospitality in Healthcare
This full case study is available to GGHH members via GGHH Connect.