Gold Award Success for Heatherwood Court Catering Team

15/12/2009

Catering staff at a Pontypridd hospital are celebrating their achievement, having been awarded two prestigious Gold awards by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Wales.

Heatherwood Court in Penycoedcae is a low secure unit that forms part of Ludlow Street Healthcare - experienced specialist mental health and learning disability healthcare providers.

Following a stringent inspection process, covering everything from recording of food items to storage and food processes, the first award was presented for food hygiene and demonstrates that the highest possible standards of hygiene, cleanliness and general maintenance have been achieved.

The second award was presented on the basis of the hospitals commitment to healthy options and followed an assessment of the menu available to patients, the ingredients used and emphasis upon encouraging a healthy diet and lifestyle.

As well as the FSA Gold Awards, several patients celebrating their achievements in completing a number of different courses, including Level 1 Food Hygiene have also received their certificates.

Patients work on a voluntary basis at the Heatherwood Court café, helping them to develop skills that will assist in gaining employment once they are able to take the step down into community living.

Many of the patients were also recently heavily involved in the development and improvement of facilities, which culminated in the opening of Café Uno and The Hub, a brand new American style café and cinema.

Commenting on the award success, Ludlow Street Healthcare CEO, Andy Mallett said:

"Obviously we are delighted that the standards we set out to achieve at Heatherwood have been reached and extremely pleased to be recognised with the highest accolade in the form of a Gold award, so I have to pass on my thanks to the catering team for doing such a great job.

"At Heatherwood Court, our aim is to facilitate active rehabilitation through a range of therapies and support patients on their journey to recovery and greater independence and we are very proud of their efforts â€" both in gaining useful qualifications and for the help they have provided to enable the development of these great new facilities."