The Royal Marsden has been recognised for the food it serves to patients by being presented with two awards.

It is the latest hospital to achieve the Soil Association’s Food for Life Served Here award for patient’s meals and the Bronze Food for Life Served Here award for the staff and visitor restaurants.

The cancer specialist centre in Sutton, which serves hundreds of meals to patients, visitors and staff per day, was recognised for the freshness of its food.

They use organic milk and the hospital was praised for using a broad range of freshly made meat alternatives.

Lizzi Testani from the Soil Association said: "The Food for Life Served award is the result of lots of dedicated effort by the team at The Royal Marsden.

“They have really gone the extra mile to ensure that their patient, staff and visitor food is covered by the award, which is an incredible demonstration of the team's dedication to serving fresh, ethical, sustainable food that meets nutritional guidelines.

“Healthy places must be serving food that is good for the environment and good for us and this is the case at The Royal Marsden where everyone has access to awarded food.”

According to a recent Department of Health report, 48% of hospitals fail to meet the Government Buying Standards that are created to meet basic standards on food quality, nutrition, environmental sustainability and animal welfare.

Dr Clare Shaw, Consultant Dietitian at The Royal Marsden, said: “When treating cancer it’s important to consider the whole person. We take great pride in providing our patients, staff and visitors with high quality food to help them look after their health and wellbeing.

“Knowing that they’re eating quality food is a weight off their mind, and the Food For Life Accreditation helps us demonstrate our focus on providing this.”

The Soil Association is the UK’s leading environmental charity promoting sustainable, organic farming and human health.