Two Cork hospitals recognised at Happy Heart Healthy Eating Awards

TWO healthcare units in Cork city have received top honours at the Happy Heart Healthy Eating Awards, which recognise the efforts hospital and healthcare settings make to provide nutritious meals to staff and visitors.

The South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital and Cork University Hospital both achieved gold certification, and were among the 21 healthcare sites providing healthier meals for almost 18,000 health service employees honoured at the national ceremony.

The 2023 Happy Heart Healthy Eating awards ceremony took place at the Gibson Hotel, Dublin.

The awards, a joint initiative of the Irish Heart Foundation and the HSE, have been running for more than 25 years. 

Irish Heart Foundation CEO Emma Balmaine congratulated the award winners at the ceremony, saying: “The Happy Heart Healthy Eating Award programme has been the flagship of our health promotion initiatives for several decades now, which we have been able to develop with support from the HSE.

“The World Health Organization identifies the workplace as one of the best places to positively influence people’s cardiovascular risk through encouraging and promoting healthy eating and other healthy behaviours.

“Healthcare workplaces are ideal settings to promote healthy eating because many people eat one if not two meals per day at work.”

Sarah O’Brien, national lead for the Healthy Eating Active Living programme in the HSE, added: “Our staff in the HSE are our most valuable resource — supporting their health and wellbeing in the workplace is a key priority for us in the Health Services.

“Creating a healthier food environment and providing healthier options at mealtimes supports our staff to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

“The awards recognise the hard work and dedication to quality improvement and those sites that are committed to prioritising the development of environments that support healthy eating."