Foodservice quality in South African hospitals: patient experiences.

Purpose: This paper presents an interpretive data analysis from a superordinate study that aimed to determine foodservice satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to determine inpatient hospital foodservice experiences.

Design/methodology/approach: The authors used secondary data obtained from 419 respondents: (225 (53.70 per cent) males, 178 (42.48 per cent) females and 16 (3.82 per cent) undisclosed) participants. A comparative, quantitative and cross-sectional approach was applied to provide insight into hospital foodservice experiences. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test, interpreted at 0.05 error rate, was used to compare male and female patient experiences.

Findings: Male patients had significantly higher rank-sum scores than female patients in almost all items (p<0.0001). The study revealed that hospital personnel, especially foodservice staff, had an unsatisfactory communication approach.

Originality/value: This is the first South African study that compares female and male inpatient foodservice perceptions. Hospital managers and stakeholders may need to consider patient's gender, as a significant factor that is associated with patient experiences, when embarking on improving foodservice systems.