Uneaten hospital meals cost NHS trusts in Sussex more than £750,000 every year.

The number of patients turning their noses up at the dishes on offer during their stay or who are not being given enough opportunity to eat them, runs into thousands.

Hospital bosses say standards have been improving and patients are now being given more time to eat their meals.

A report by analysts Ssentif found about one in seven, 14.6%, of meals served at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Worthing Hospital and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, were sent back.

The trust spends £7.90 per patient per day on meals and the wastage costs it £405.795 a year.

East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust wastes about 11% of meals, costing it £279,442.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, was the best performer, with just over 3% of meals wasted.

The lost meals cost the trust £101,573 a year.

The trust was one of the first in the country to introduce a protected meal-times scheme, where all ward activity is suspended and staff concentrate on making sure patients have peace and quiet to eat their meals.

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