Aramark launches world-first solution

Aramark, the market-leading foodservice and integrated workplace solutions provider, launches DISH; a Digital Innovation Solution for Healthcare. The transformative platform offers a bespoke digital ordering system for healthcare environments.

Developed in Ireland, DISH combines pioneering technology with innovative customised menus into a seamless, integrated, digital healthcare solution. The platform offers unrivalled reliability, efficiencies and support for patients, healthcare staff and foodservice workers, transforming the patient experience.

Available for use in a wide range of public and private healthcare settings, pilot testing has shown that busy hospitals can save 2,000 man hours of administrative work per annum, while also removing the potential for human error in the patient ordering process.

Created in collaboration with Nutritics, an industry leader in nutrition and food management software, DISH focuses on improving patient safety, removing potential errors in data collation, displays allergens, ingredients, and nutritional composition, texture, and identifies appropriate therapeutic meal options.

Smart ordering, supported by technology, minimises the risk for patients with food allergies and reduces touch points and contact between patients and hospital staff. It helps to ease communication barriers with certain patient groups. Written, visual and verbal menu choices are all designed in compliance with HIQA requirements.

DISH can also fully integrate into each hospital’s patient management system, calculate specific individual nutritional requirements, including stress factors and activity level, which can be utilised by the hospital’s dietetic and clinical teams. It is an all-round solution ensuring connectivity and continuance of care.

Elbha Purcell, Head of Dietetics and Wellbeing, Aramark Northern Europe commented“Everyone knows the pressure that Ireland’s Healthcare system is under, so we set out to create a solution that improves efficiency, quality, and safety, as well as reducing food and paper waste. It was critical for us that DISH can truly transform the inpatient feeding experience in every setting, serving everyone involved in the process.

“In equal importance, we made sure that DISH drives efficiencies, sustainable practices, and cost savings, removing an unnecessary environment impact and cost of the existing process. It reduces time from kitchen to pantry to patient, taking pressure off frontline staff, and helping to reduce food waste.”

Shane Flynn, Managing Director for Aramark Food Services, Facilities Management & Avoca, Ireland added “Aramark stays on the cutting edge of innovative technology. Our long-standing partnerships in Ireland’s healthcare sector are a reflection of our expert teams’ deep operational and nutritional knowledge, innovative thinking, and safety-focus, which enables us to develop customised programs for every organisation we serve.

“We’re also proud to partner with industry leaders on the development of new systems and often bring these solutions to our clients so that we can solve for the very real challenges that they face.

I’m excited for the transformation this solution can bring and look forward to seeing this Irish innovation grow and serve Aramark’s Healthcare partners and patients around the globe.”

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