The food environment in hospitals and long-term care facilities: Shifting towards a healthy and sustainable food environment for patients, staff, and visitors

Summary

Hospitals and long-term care facilities can play an exemplary role in promoting health by improving their food environment for patients, staff, and visitors. This thesis aimed to gain insight into the food environment within the Dutch healthcare setting and to identify which factors, mechanisms, and actions contribute to shifting to a healthy and sustainable food environment. It reveals the current state of food environments in hospitals and long-term care facilities, highlighting their diversity and complexity. For long-term care facilities, this thesis uncovers key system dynamics shaping the food environment and identifies actions for change. In hospitals, the thesis reveals a range of internal and external factors that either enabled or hindered progress toward implementing healthier food environments. Although initial steps have been taken to support the shift toward healthier and more sustainable food environments in healthcare settings, this thesis reveals that additional actions are still required to achieve lasting change, including the need for a systems-oriented approach, sustained commitment of various stakeholders and coordinated action across multiple levels.