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With our coalition partners at Plants First Healthcare, you can access a range of services to help your healthcare organisation enhance their plant-based offerings. Many of our recipes are lower in saturated fat and higher in fibre than their animal-based counterparts, and also offer a smaller carbon footprint.4 Our support is designed with boosting health and planet outcomes in mind.
Plants First Healthcare Coalition founding organisations
Our Support Services
Plant-based cooking workshops
Culinary workshops for hospital caterers
We deliver professional, in-person cooking workshops designed to empower hospital catering teams to create delicious and inspiring plant-based dishes confidently.
- Led by experts, sessions are facilitated by experienced ProVeg chef trainers and the Hospital Plates team.
- Hands-on learning: practical, interactive cooking experiences are tailored to your team’s skill level and kitchen setup.
- Plant-forward skills: training covers essential plant-based cooking techniques, ingredient handling, and menu integration.
- Tasting sessions: a dedicated tasting experience allows staff to sample the dishes, reinforcing that flavour is a key driver of choice and satisfaction.
- Nutrition and sustainability education workshops: we include insights into the health and climate benefits of plant-forward eating, helping staff understand the “why” behind the “how.”
Our menu-certification scheme:
The ProVeg Hospital Plates Award
What are the ProVeg Hospital Plates Awards
The ProVeg Hospital Plates Awards offer a practical, evidence-based framework informed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) Playbook, the Eat Lancet’s Planetary Health Diet, the National Food Strategy, and guidance from the UK Climate Change Committee. The awards are designed to inspire and motivate catering teams by celebrating their achievements while providing a clear pathway for continuous progress. Through a tiered system of Bronze, Silver, and Gold recognition, hospital caterers across the UK are rewarded and honoured for their commitment to delivering plant-rich meals with the planet and health in mind, inspiring excellence in food service.
ProVeg operate internationally with a wealth of experience in global public food programmes. We draw on worldwide expertise and are supported by nutritionists, public health academics, and a research team.
The Plants First Healthcare Coalition
Our collective expertise
- Plant-rich menu development
- Plant-based culinary skills training
- Nutrition, hydration and food clinical standards
- Business case and value proposition development
- Dietary behaviour change expertise
- Operational support
- Staff training
- Communication expertise
- Bespoke solutions to suit every organisation
- Project and change management
Our experience
- Successful track record of implementing food change in healthcare settings, schools, and other institutions
- Deep knowledge and senior relationships across the NHS and catering industries
- National and international case studies
- An extensive network of healthcare, food and sustainability professionals
Check out our plant-powered recipes
About the ProVeg UK Team
In the UK, we work with local authorities and school caterers to increase the health and sustainability of school food. We review menus and provide advice, new recipes, and plant-based cooking workshops in order to increase the quality and quantity of plant-based food in schools. As a co-founder of the Plant-based Food Alliance UK, we influence national food policy and raise awareness of the importance of plant-based food for people, animals, and the planet, through our various campaigns.
ProVeg UK is a non-profit organisation, is registered as a community-interest company, and is entirely donor-funded.
Alex Jemison
Programme Manager (Awards)
Alex is the School Plates Awards Manager. A former opera singer with a degree in…
Read MoreProgramme Manager (Awards)
Alex is the School Plates Awards Manager. A former opera singer with a degree in modern languages, she has always been passionate about communicating, so it’s no surprise that she loves to share her passion for School Plates!
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Sophia Millar
Co-Executive Director
Sophia is a former primary school teacher and senior leader with 18 years of experience in…
Read MoreCo-Executive Director
Sophia is a former primary school teacher and senior leader with 18 years of experience in education. She is a registered nutritionist and nutritional therapist, with clinical experience in gut health and supporting children and families with nutrition, bringing her much valued experience to our team. Sophia leads our UK public food programmes – School Plates and Hospital Plates.
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Ellie Murphy
Programme Coordinator (England)
Ellie has a background in nutrition and 20 years of experience planning and delivering cookery…
Read MoreProgramme Coordinator (England)
Ellie has a background in nutrition and 20 years of experience planning and delivering cookery and caterer training. She manages our partnerships in England and supports local authorities to make their menus healthier and more sustainable. She also delivers our caterer training.
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Nicola Wilson
Programme Manager (Hospital Plates)
Nicola is a Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) with experience spanning hospitality, corporate, government, and charitable…
Read MoreProgramme Manager (Hospital Plates)
Nicola is a Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) with experience spanning hospitality, corporate, government, and charitable sectors, working across nutrition, operations, research, and policy. Previous roles have focused on improving access to healthy food for children and young people. Her work is driven by a strong commitment to public health, particularly in the areas of food insecurity, nutrition, and health equity. Nicola currently leads our NHS Hospital Plates programme within a coalition, bringing together evidence, partnerships, and practical action to improve food and health outcomes across the system.
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Jordan Bourzig
Chef Trainer & Programme Support
Jordan is a chef and a naturopathic nutritionist student hailing from a traditional French…
Read MoreChef Trainer & Programme Support
Jordan is a chef and a naturopathic nutritionist student hailing from a traditional French cooking background. He has studied the fundamentals of professional cuisine and gained experience in various restaurants, ranging from bistros to Michelin establishments. Jordan has dedicated his skills to sharing knowledge and offering healthy food to anyone he could assist.
Jordan supports ProVeg UK’s School Plates and Hospital Plates programmes, including recipe development and hosting our plant-based cooking workshops.
CloseFrequently Asked Questions
What is ProVeg UK’s Hospital Plates programme?
Hospital Plates is a ProVeg UK programme that helps healthcare providers increase their patients’ and staff’s intake of plant-rich foods, reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from their meals, and make significant cost savings. It is delivered alongside coalition partners at Plants First Healthcare.
Who is Hospital Plates for?
Hospital Plates works with healthcare providers and their catering teams — including hospitals and NHS caterers — to add more plant-rich options to patient and staff menus. Support is tailored to each provider through the Plants First Healthcare coalition.
What support does Hospital Plates provide?
Hospital Plates provides plant-rich menu development, plant-based culinary skills training and cooking workshops for hospital caterers, support with nutrition, hydration and food clinical standards, business-case and value-proposition development, dietary behaviour-change expertise, and operational, staff-training and change-management support.
What is the ProVeg Hospital Plates Award?
The ProVeg Hospital Plates Award is a menu-certification scheme with Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers that recognises healthcare providers for adding more plant-rich meals to their menus.
Why serve more plant-rich meals in hospitals?
Serving more plant-rich meals helps healthcare providers cut the greenhouse gas emissions from their catering while making cost savings. Many Hospital Plates recipes are also lower in saturated fat and higher in fibre than their animal-based counterparts.
How does a hospital or caterer get involved with Hospital Plates?
Healthcare providers and their catering teams can get involved by contacting the ProVeg UK team through the Hospital Plates programme page, where the team can discuss menus, training and working towards the Hospital Plates Award.
References
- Rockström, J., S. H. Thilsted, W. C. Willett, et al. (2025): The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems. The Lancet 406(10512), 1625–1700. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01201-2
- Nicholles B, BryantC (2024): Climate-Conscious & Cost-Effective: A Case for Plant-Based University Catering. Available at https://bryantresearch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Case-for-Plant-Based-University-Catering.pdf
- Springmann, Marco et al. (2021): The global and regional costs of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns: a modelling study. The Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 5, Issue 11, e797 – e807. DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00251-5
- Rockström, J., S. H. Thilsted, W. C. Willett, et al. (2025): The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems. The Lancet 406(10512), 1625–1700. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01201-2