Croydon University Hospital is “among the worst” for food quality, according to a nationwide study of hospitals in England.

The report, conducted by NHS Choices, also found no fresh fruit was provided to patients.

A spokesman for Croydon NHS Trust said fresh fruit had now been available “for some weeks”.

Overall, Croydon University Hospital was ranked 1061 out of 1,258 institutions for food quality where data was available.

As part of the 2014 Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment programme, teams of assessors visited every hospital and tasted the food on a sample of wards.

After sampling every item of food of offer, they rated it for taste, temperature, texture and how well it was served.

Their views were brought together in a single percentage score. Croydon University Hospital scored 85.86 per cent for food quality compared with 93.79 per cent at nearby St Helier Hospital in Sutton, which was ranked 699.

This is despite Croydon NHS Trust spending £10.90 on food per patient per day, compared to £10.02 at St Helier.

Croydon University Hospital scored 91.41 per cent for food choice, placing it “in the middle range”.

Richard Runeckles, a recent patient at Croydon University Hospital, said: “I’d say about a third of the food was okay.

"But the last meal I had in there was a chicken curry, and I think the chicken in there was older that I was. “In the morning they offer cereals or toast.

"They toast the bread and then they microwave it so it comes out like a lump of cardboard. It’s not wonderful, and I wouldn’t want to be there any longer than a week.”

A Croydon NHS Trust spokesman said: “We take great pride in being able to offer a wide range of menu options to our patients, which reflects the diverse tastes and food preferences of the Croydon community; the team were very pleased to have scored very strongly on the patient food choice scores and we are only 2 per cent off being among the best in the country for our selection of food.

“We listen to our patients’ feedback about their meals and we know that they have noticed a substantial improvement in the quality; we can see from the Department of Health data that our scores for food quality are just 2 per cent behind the ‘In the middle range’ grouping of scores in England and will be looking to hit this threshold over the next year.”