Acerca de

Feeding parents of children in hospital was one of Sophie’s top priorities. She never understood why a parent staying with their sick child wasn’t also provided a meal. Across the three hospitals where Sophie received treatment, we encountered the same issue—something sadly all too common nationwide.

​

According to the 2022 survey, only 30% of hospitals in the UK provide meals to the parent staying with their child. Yet many children, like Sophie, don’t want their parent to leave their bedside—meaning those parents often go without food. We’ve heard heartbreaking stories: parents not eating for five days, unable to afford food, or simply unwilling to leave their child to get a meal. It’s clear that proper nutrition is essential for parents to cope with the immense physical and emotional strain of having a seriously ill child in hospital.

​

Since January 2022, Sophie’s Legacy has been delivering snack boxes, toiletry packs, and Tassimo coffee machines weekly to 17 children’s wards in Portsmouth and Southampton hospitals. Our aim is to ensure that parents have access to food and drink 24/7, seven days a week. The response has been overwhelming, with many parents saying that without our support, they simply wouldn’t have eaten. We’ve now expanded this support to include hospitals in Chichester, Guildford, Basingstoke, Winchester, the Isle of Wight, Poole, Dorchester, Salisbury, and Worthing—covering children’s wards and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs).

​

National Conversations and NHS Engagement

​

In July 2021, while Sophie was still alive, we met with Phil Shelley from the NHS England Food Review. He listened not only to our experiences but also to Sophie’s personal views.

​

In October 2021—just a month after Sophie’s passing—Charlotte met with Ruth May, then Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England. Ruth pledged to support making Sophie’s wishes a reality. In February 2022, Sophie’s story was presented to the NHS England Board. As a result, Kate Pye (then Deputy Chief Nursing Officer), Phil Shelley, and others visited hospitals across the country to see whether our experiences reflected a wider problem. Their findings confirmed they did.

​

One key discovery: the average cost for a parent to eat in hospital is around £15–£18 per day. With the current cost-of-living pressures, this is simply unaffordable for many families. They also found that while some hospitals would provide food to breastfeeding parents, non-breastfeeding mothers were often excluded. One shocking example shared with Sophie's Legacy involved a mother recovering from a traumatic C-section. Admitted with her three-week-old baby and unable to breastfeed due to an infection, she stayed in hospital for seven weeks and wasn’t provided a single meal. We believe it is discriminatory to feed only breastfeeding mothers—every parent staying with a sick child deserves care and nourishment.

​

Progress and Pilot Programmes

​​

After Sophie’s story was presented to the NHS Board, we received a formal letter stating their commitment to her vision.

 

In September 2022, Charlotte shared her story with the Southampton Hospitals Trust Board, which led to the introduction of a £4 daily meal voucher for parents at the hospital.

​

Locally, we’ve also purchased freezers for parent rooms and stocked them with COOK meals to provide access to hot, nutritious food. Beyond that, we’ve introduced weekly pizza nights—starting at QA Hospital in Portsmouth in May 2022—and now also held at Guildford, Chichester, Royal Marsden, Poole, and the Isle of Wight.

 

In March 2023, an eight-week pilot began at major children’s hospitals including Alder Hey, Birmingham, Bristol, Great Ormond Street, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, and Southampton. The pilot was funded by the Child Alliance but proudly named the “Sophie’s Legacy Pilots.” It has already made a major impact—some hospitals, including Alder Hey, Sheffield, and Great Ormond Street, continue to feed parents two years later.

 

Extending the Mission to District Hospitals

 

Recognising that district hospitals—those with one or two children’s wards—also needed support, Sophie's Legacy solely funded and launched with NHS England a new pilot project in March 2024. Fifteen hospitals were selected to receive £5,000 each to feed parents, with projects starting in June 2024. Each hospital had to outline how they would sustain the initiative after the pilot.

​

The results were powerful. In some cases, this was the first hot meal parents had in over seven weeks. One parent said: “It was the first hot meal I’ve had since arriving in hospital with my child.” We also found that children were more likely to eat when their parents ate alongside them—potentially aiding recovery and even reducing hospital stays. This could have long-term cost-saving implications, though no formal study has yet examined this.

 

Widening Impact and National Change

 

Sophie’s message is spreading. Hospitals like Medway and Hull have implemented parent-feeding policies inspired by her story. We hope the 2022 survey will be repeated in 2025 to measure progress—and early signs suggest that more than 50% of hospitals now feed parents, thanks in large part to Sophie’s Legacy and the strong case for treating parents with care.

​

In October 2024, Medirest—one of the UK’s hospital caterers—announced a partnership with Sophie’s Legacy to feed all parents across the hospitals they serve. This remarkable offer covers approximately 1,000 children’s beds, with costs fully funded by Medirest, not the NHS.

 

Continuing Advocacy

​

We’ve heard from hundreds of families across the UK about the struggles they’ve faced accessing food while caring for a hospitalised child. Many describe the financial hardship, the emotional stress, and the impossible choice between eating and staying by their child’s side. Charlotte has repeatedly highlighted to NHS trusts: if we care for parents, they are better able to care for their children. Many parents are full-time carers—and if we neglect their basic needs, we risk greater costs both financially and emotionally.

​

We are now working on an impact report to document the progress of the last four years and to encourage all hospitals to adopt feeding parents as standard practice. If you would like a copy of this report, please get in touch.