I recently spent a short time in a hospital after an operation. The care and attention I received was second to none.

However, one thing let my stay down but it had nothing to do with medicine. It was the food.

In my opinion, it didn’t reach the highest standards.

On paper the dishes (three courses if you wished) sounded appetising, until you took off the cover of the meal.

Main meals included chicken chasseur, chunky fish pie, fish ‘n’ chips and shepherd’s pie with root vegetables. There was also a selection of sandwiches from which to choose. All very nice, it would seem.

On my first evening I chose a jacket potato with baked beans and cheese. I was having an operation the following day and I didn’t want anything too heavy. It sounded just about right.

The meal was duly brought to me and I took the lid off my plate.

To my horror I saw it was in a plastic plate on which the cheese had melted and stuck to the edges.

Some of the beans had dried out and also stuck to the plate.

I thought at least other meals can’t be any worse than this.

Wrong again – they were. One of the meals on offer was fish ‘n’ chips: now who doesn’t like that for a meal?

The “fish” was a selection of minced up fish on the plate with a few chips and peas – when it’s cold it isn’t very nice to eat, I can assure you.

I recall some years ago people complained about school meals and Jamie Oliver went in to sort it out.

It greatly improved after that and children are back eating school meals again.

The same needs to happen with hospital meals.

The Government does not allow sufficient funds for decent meals to be produced.

Like school meals, hospital meals are produced miles away, shipped across the country, chilled and then heated up for patients.

Wouldn’t it be nice if hospitals had their own catering staff and produced the meals at the hospital?

But those days are well gone now. That would be far too expensive and, in this day and age, it is all about money over people.

There is no doubt that good food aids the recovery of a patient and, therefore, it should be of the highest standard possible.

I spoke with the boss of our local hospitals and he told me that food surveys were frequently carried out and that a large number of patients said the food was adequate.

I have requested local Conservative MP Simon Kirby to contact the health secretary to see what can be done to improve hospital food.

I am very passionate about this subject and intend to keep on plugging away until I achieve improvements for everyone.

David Rowland, Harvest Close, Telscombe Cliffs