Regethermic food trolley roll-out

Partnering for improved patient care
Sustained innovation has been intrinsic to our 25-year collaboration with Eastern Health, ensuring gold-standard patient support, safety and customer care. Most recently, ISS and Eastern Health successfully rolled out a new Regethermic food trolley initiative at Eastern Health’s Box Hill Hospital and soon-to-be Wantirna Health site. This initiative, supported by ISS UK’s proven experience with similar trolley technology, aligns with advancements seen in other major Melbourne hospitals.

Rethermalisation, or reheating, is particularly important in environments where batch meals are prepared in advance, such as hospitals. Proper reheating ensures safe, high-quality meals, reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses and maintaining patient satisfaction.

ISS, in partnership with Box Hill Hospital, has introduced 17 new trolleys, replacing a decommissioned set. A team of 72 ISS Placemakers now use the trolleys to service approximately 1200 meals a day across breakfast, lunch, dinner, as well as morning and afternoon tea.

Trolley upgrade – key benefits
The upgraded trolleys offer benefits for patient care including:

• Sophisticated dual-purpose heating and refrigeration compartments to reheat food efficiently while maintaining cold items at safe temperatures.
• Cloud-based monitoring, which provides remote alerts throughout the food-service delivery process, including temperature control and timing.
• Ergonomically designed trolleys to enhance push-pull mobility and safety for staff self-delivering meals.

ISS and Eastern Health have prioritised future-proofing in selecting these trolleys. Designed to adapt to increasing patient numbers, the trolleys can hold a variety of meal tray types and sizes. Their advanced technology also facilitates remote, cloud-based monitoring of food temperature and timing to enhance food-service delivery.

This initiative is part of ISS’ and Eastern Health’s broader strategy to explore alternative food-service delivery systems, including the successful implementation of the Torus Pak straight-to-plate meal delivery model at Eastern Health sites including Box Hill Hospital’s Maternity and Inpatient Mental Health wards. 

The Torus Pak straight-to-plate menu and food-delivery system makes meals easy to cook and prepare ensuring food safety and enhancing patient satisfaction through innovative packaging and preparation methods. 

• Torus Pak offers a seasonally refreshed à la carte menu for a wider range of meals tailored to patients’ preferences and dietary needs.
• 16 meal options are available for selection, promoting patient choice, health, and wellbeing.
• The food trolleys can be modified for future needs, featuring colour codes (yellow and blue) and additional safety doors for ward-based use.

Positive results
The implementation of the Regethermic food trolleys has yielded overwhelmingly positive results. Early audits show a marked increase of 16% in patient satisfaction, when an uplift from 80% to 96% was recorded in feedback based on factors such as food temperature, quality, taste and presentation.

The Regethermic food trolley upgrade at Eastern Health's Box Hill Hospital exemplifies our commitment to continuous innovation and patient care excellence. By leveraging global expertise and adapting it to local needs, ISS and Eastern Health have set a new standard in food-service delivery, ensuring improved patient satisfaction and operational efficiency.