1,200+ Health Professionals & 24 Organisations Call on NHS to Offer Default Plant-Based Meals in Hospitals
A new campaign called Plants First Healthcare, led by senior NHS doctors, has called on UK hospitals to offer plant-based meals by default to benefit human and planetary health.
“According to the 2023 Lancet Countdown report , 70,000 deaths in the UK in 2020 were associated with insufficient intake of nutritious plant-based foods (such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds),”
Notable climate campaigners like TV presenter Chris Packham and journalist George Monbiot have in addition added their signatures. Research indicates that adopting default plant-based meals in public catering could save the NHS £74 million annually.
Per to Plants First Healthcare, the initiative would in addition markedly improve national health outcomes, address health inequalities. Help meet climate and nature targets, including the NHS’s pledge to reach net-zero emissions. While some hospital trusts have already adopted low-carbon menus or signed the Cool Food Pledge, which commits them to reducing food emissions by 25% by 2030, Plants First Healthcare believes progress is currently too slow.
The campaign notes that a recent report on the state of the NHS in England found that improving the sustainability of the service and focusing on “the power of prevention” should be key priorities. This aligns with the goals of Plants First Healthcare. © Plants First Healthcare Changing dietary habits The launch of the campaign follows the success of a similar initiative in New York City, where default plant-based meals were introduced in 2022 in collaboration with the nonprofit Greener by Default.
The program proved so popular that it was extended from lunchtime to dinnertime. Last month, a paper found that the New York initiative has extremely high patient acceptance at over 95%, while patient satisfaction is over 90%.
Furthermore, adopting plant-based menus reduced the hospital system’s emissions by 36% and saved a total of $318,000 in 2023. This would not only provide immediate cost savings to the NHS, but as well give longer-term healthcare benefits for patients, while drastically cutting carbon emissions.”
