Football is firmly on the menu at Lincolnshire hospitals this month as staff and patients get in the mood to celebrate the World Cup.
Wards have been decorated with flags, table football tournaments arranged and there’s even a special World Cup-themed menu being dished up across hospital restaurants to mark the occasion.
The celebrations kicked off on Thursday 14 June with patients enjoying games and football-based ward activities, while beef stroganoff and stuffed cabbage was being served to visitors to the hospital restaurants to coincide with the first match proper – Russia vs Saudi Arabia.
Patrica Hopkins, Team Leader in United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s (ULHT) central production unit – the main kitchen hub – came up with the culinary concoctions which are available across all the Trust’s main hospital sites, Lincoln, Boston and Grantham.
“We’ve done themed menus before, for the Commonwealth Games, so it just seemed like a good idea to do it for the World Cup,” said Patricia.
“My favourite is probably the Icelandic cod – I had it for my tea the other day and it was delicious.
“We’re doing 14 different dishes to coincide with the various games and we hope that people will enjoy them.”
Other global dishes on offer throughout the tournament include lamb and apricot tagine (Tunisia), chicken enchiladas (Mexico), chicken teriyaki (Japan) and toad in the goal (England).
There will also be spicy Peruvian pork, Danish pastries, Swedish meatballs and German sausages on offer.
Meanwhile, over on Shuttleworth ward at Lincoln County Hospital, Occupational Therapy Assistant Joe Cranfield has decorated the day room with flags and patient artwork, set up a table football for patients and even wheeled in a widescreen TV in readiness for the big matches.
“There’s been a real buzz on the ward recently and the patients are really looking forward to it,” said Joe.
“It’s been great to get them involved, we had patients decorating the ward and it really engaged one lady with dementia who enjoyed taking part.
“We’ll be collecting patients from other wards and bringing them across to watch the matches if they want to.”
Over on Ashby ward, the staff were getting in the mood by donning their England shirts and asking patients to paint their own World Cup flags.
“We’ll also be getting patients to play some standing football on the wards to get them involved if they fancy a kick-about,” said Physiotherapy Assistant Brandon Onyon.
The World Cup menu is being served up until 12 July with lunch served daily from 11:45am to 12:45pm.
Members of the public and of course hospital visitors are welcome to indulge.
