St John of God Geraldton Hospital completes organisation’s rollout of nationwide room service model

Patients at St John of God Geraldton Hospital are being offered a more palatable stay, with hotel-style room service just a call away.

The new room service model has replaced standard catering for patients at Geraldton’s private hospital.

Hospital CEO Phillip Balmer said the catering change was part of the hospital’s goal to provide top-tier healthcare regionally, which was better, safer, faster to access and more convenient than elsewhere.

“Hospital food is traditionally seen as bland, boring and delivered in a take-it-or-leave-it manner which doesn’t fit our patient-centred style of care,” he said.

“Offering freedom of choice in both menu and timing is a much better patient experience.

“We have top-notch caregivers, we are proud of our stellar patient net promoter score of 86 and by introducing room service we’re giving people in the Mid West even more reason to stay close to home for their care.”

SJOG Health Care became the first private health care organisation to introduce room service as a nationwide model, with the Geraldton hospital completing the rollout.

Group CEO Bryan Pyne said patients had welcomed the change, but it also came with nutritional, sustainability and financial benefits.

“A major bonus of the change is the positive impact it’s had on both food waste and cost,” he said.

“This change has had a positive sustainability outcome, reducing food waste by 24 per cent in the 2024 financial year.

“As an added benefit we anticipate annual cost savings of around $5.4 million on both food and production costs.”

SJOG patients can order from the room service menu during the day, with orders taken through the organisation’s Perth and Bendigo call centres. The centres received more than 1.3 million calls last financial year, with an average queue time of just 50 seconds.