ANDY JONES has become chair of the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA).
Jones was elected to the position at the association’s Annual General Meeting recently and has taken over from Janice Gillan.
Jones has been an active member of the HCA for over 20 years. He has been the national vice chair for the past two years, but has also been chair of the HCA West Midlands branch.
In 2007, he was awarded the HCA “Caterer of the Year”. Last year he was awarded the Catey Public Sector Caterer Award for his service and contribution to NHS catering.
Jones is currently service development director for NHS and healthcare catering private contractor, ISS Facility Services.
Jones will lead the HCA at a challenging time for public sector caterers. Hospital food standards have been criticised from campaigners, doctors and chefs. Proposals to introduce mandatory standards for hospital food have also been gathering momentum.
Jones said sourcing sustainable food within restricted budgets would be major challenge.
“Maintaining high quality hospital food, sourced as sustainably as possible and operating cost-effective, efficient catering services within a National Health Service that is facing the biggest budget cuts since it began, is going to be demanding for all hospital catering managers,” he explained.
“I am therefore committed to ensuring that the HCA provides the necessary support and tools to enable them to continue to deliver a dynamic service that meets patient expectations.”
