Australia’s First Room Service Implementation

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Initiative Type
Service Improvement
Status
Deliver
Added
03 May 2018
Last updated
06 February 2023

Summary

In 2013, Mater Private Hospital Brisbane, Australia was the first hospital in Australia to implement room service.  Following demonstrated improvements in all key outcomes measured, Mater implemented room service across the remainder of its public and private facilities in 2016.

Sally McCray, Mater Group, at the 2018 Clinical Excellence Showcase from Clinical Excellence Queensland on Vimeo.

The project won both the People's Choice Award and Contagion Award (most likely to spread) at the 2018 Clinical Excellence Queensland Showcase.

Key dates
Jun 2013
Dec 2016
Implementation sites
Mater Health

Aim

The aim of these studies was to comprehensively evaluate the nutritional intake, plate waste, patient satisfaction and patient meal costs of room service (RS) compared to a traditional hospital foodservice model (TM).

Benefits

  • Improvement in patient nutritional intake
  • Improvement in patient satisfaction
  • Reduction in plate waste
  • Reduction in food costs

Background

Hospital food service provision is increasingly being scrutinized in the cost constrained and patient centred healthcare environment to reduce costs, as well as to reduce the environmental impact of foodservice waste. Patients nutritional intake is also important in the context of malnutrition prevalence and associated negative clinical outcomes in healthcare facilities.

Solutions Implemented

In 2013, Mater Private Hospital Brisbane, Australia was the first hospital in Australia to implement room service, with the aim of improving patient nutritional care and reducing costs. In a research framework, the key outcomes of nutritional intake, plate waste, patient satisfaction and patient meal costs were measured to comprehensively evaluate the impact of room service compared to a traditional hospital foodservice model. Following positive demonstrated improvements in all outcomes, Mater implemented this model in the remainder of its public and private facilities at South Brisbane, with similar improvements.

Evaluation and Results

A retrospective analysis of quality assurance data audits was undertaken to assess patient nutritional intake in a pre-post study design to assess primary outcome measures of nutritional intake, plate waste, patient satisfaction, and patient meal costs before and after the room service implementation.

The private hospital study reported an increased nutritional intake, improved patient satisfaction and reduced plate waste and patient meal costs with RS compared to TM.  The public hospital study reported similar improvements in all key outcomes.

Lessons Learnt

The redesign of hospital foodservice models is increasingly a focus to drive improved patient satisfaction and cost savings, but also to influence clinical outcomes associated with nutritional intake. The significant focus on evidence based clinical care within healthcare should also apply to foodservice model re-design, with the expectation of improvements in key measures including clinical outcomes, as well as organizational efficiency and cost effectiveness measures.

Systematically measuring key outcomes associated with improvements in foodservice models allows for a balanced, evidence-based approach to foodservice model evaluation and redesign.

Further Reading

Jandonline Article

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Key contact

Sally McCray
Clinical Support Services
Mater Health
(07) 3163 2441
sally.mccray@mater.org.au

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