Patient meals

The Food Services team at PCH will provide all of your child's meals during their stay.  

The usual time for inpatient meals are:

• Breakfast: 7:30 – 8am  
• Lunch: 11:30am – 12pm
• Dinner: 4:30 – 5:30pm

Patient Meal Ordering System (PMOS)

For most diet types, you can select your child’s meal from the Patient Meal Ordering System (PMOS) on the Patient Entertainment System (PES). 

You can order breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks on PMOS, and it will remind you to choose your orders, but if you forget or are unable to order, you will get a ‘meal of the day’ delivered.

For more information and to learn how to order a meal using the Patient Entertainment System, see here. 

Dietary requirements

When you are admitted to the hospital, you will be asked about your child’s dietary requirements, such as food allergies or intolerances, or religious observances (such as Kosher or Halal). Please make sure your nurse is also aware of any allergies, intolerances or religious observances.

Fasting from food and drink

If your child needs to fast for a period before a medical procedure your nurse will tell you.

Please do not offer food or drinks to other children on the ward in case they are fasting or have allergies

Parent meals

Breakfast packs are provided to parents or carers staying overnight with their child.  

Breastfeeding mothers

Mothers of babies who are fully breastfed will receive breakfast and a meal voucher for one other meal daily.

Resident mothers of babies who are patients on Ward 3B, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), will receive breakfast, lunch and dinner daily for the first five days of the postnatal period.

Please speak to your nurse about these arrangements.

Other parent meals

Parent meals will also be provided, as required, to parents or carers who are not able to leave the bedside to purchase their own food because:

• their child is critically ill
• they are from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds, or remote Aboriginal communities, who for reasons of language or culture may experience difficulty purchasing food

Provided parent meals which meet these criteria will be as follows:

• breakfast – choice of various items delivered by Food Services staff during breakfast service
• 'meal of the day' lunch
• 'meal of the day' dinner

Please speak to your nurse about these arrangements.

Bringing food from home