Streamlining the Queuing Process at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Overview and challenge
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is situated in the county of Lincolnshire and is one of the biggest acute hospital trusts in England.
The trust were experiencing long queues in their Restaurant, for staff and visitors.
As NHS staff often only have short breaks, and can be very limited on time, we offered to help the trust’s Culinary Team with some innovative and creative new ideas that could be implemented, to help them ease this problem.
The solution
Millie Morgan, Culinary Specialist, Idrees Anwar, our Lead Dietician and Sarah Johnson Food Account Manager set about helping the trust to write and execute a Culinary Plan, namely with Lincoln County Hospital. In response to the trust’s call to action, requiring support with their retail offering which caters for, visitors and staff, their aims were to reduce queuing time, by reviewing their catering offer and service flow, with the outcomes being improved customer wait time and overall satisfaction.
Millie suggested the trust move to a Food To Go style service and offer, which would provide the Restaurant with a simpler style of service, with pre-made and boxed hot meals. The trust were willing to explore this option, and give it a trial to see if it might work out for them.
A taste of something new
Additionally the trust wanted to enhance their offering of world food flavours and different cuisines. We were on hand to introduce their Culinary Concepts. These concepts are thoughtfully crafted recipe banks, providing catering teams with healthy and innovative food options for both staff and visitors.
This would in turn bring their food offering up to date and more on trend, developing their ongoing menu and Culinary Team with support and training so they felt confident cooking these dishes. This would then in turn will improve their service time during lunch, and maintain the high quality and standard of food they served.
From challenges to culinary inspiration
A Culinary Engagement Day was held for the staff, where their skills could be honed, and in turn upskilled and inspired.
We worked with the trust to facilitate this onsite at the hospital, so they could understand and overcome their day-to-day challenges.
These challenges included the layout of the Restaurant, meaning that staff and visitors coming to eat had to queue in a long corridor, putting a lot of people off.
The Culinary Engagement Day saw the service revitalised – meals were prepped, cooked and boxed in the kitchen then brought out to the servery in a “grab and go” style service, with the menus being displayed and shared prior to the lunch service so people could decide what they wanted before even getting to the Restaurant.
Staff and visitors could simply grab a box of hot food, pay for it and either sit down and eat their lunch or go where they wanted or needed to be next in order to eat before resuming work.
The results
The trust saw a significant uplift in sales in the Restaurant as a result of this work, increasing three fold in a one month period.
Till transactions
from 2,000 to 3,000 in a month
Hot meals consumption
from 428 to 543 in a month
Queuing time
from 8 minutes to 5 minutes
The serving time went down more with the “grab and go” style at the server, as opposed to meals being served on plates with increased interaction, meaning time for the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust`s staff.
Positive feedback was also received from the trust and employees with an overall score of ten out of ten.
I’d like to thank you all again, the team have learnt so much and had so much fun. We thoroughly enjoyed having you (the NHS Supply Chain: Food team) and moral is really high. We are currently now creating some new specials in the kitchen to try out on staff and visitors very soon.
Sophie Blake, Retail Catering Team Leader, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
The latest development at the trust
This week, the team delivered a successful pop‑up culinary event as part of ongoing menu development at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Development chefs Millie Morgan and Stuart Finn worked closely with the catering teams at the Pilgrim Boston acute site to create a range of fresh, flavourful Middle Eastern–inspired dishes using the hot food grab‑and‑go concept.
This approach supports smoother service in The Restaurant, helping staff enjoy a nutritious, tasty meal without the lunchtime queues.
What a fantastic culinary concept day at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. It was a real pleasure to collaborate with the team to develop and showcase some exciting Middle Eastern–inspired dishes.
Working together, we produced two standout concepts that not only looked great but delivered on flavour, nutrition, and creativity. The feedback from both staff and visitors was exceptional, which made the day even more rewarding.
Events like this really highlight what can be achieved through teamwork, passion, and a shared commitment to improving the food experience for everyone.
Looking forward to building on this momentum and bringing more innovative ideas to future menus.
Sarah Johnson, Food Account Manager, NHS Supply Chain: Food
We continue to help and support the Trust. Millie and the team are on hand as their trusted advisors ready to advise as and when needed.
See our Useful Links section to view our Food Category website.
Links section
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Food Category Page
Key categories include: ambient food, beverages, covers provision for retail and patients, fresh and frozen food, ready meals, and vending solutions.