
Delivering over 650 fresh and nutritious patient meals every day, QEII Hospital’s Food Services Manager Jayden Mills and his team are as passionate about people as they are about food.
A self-professed foodie and a Chef by trade, Jayden’s passion for bringing balanced, high-quality meals to QEII’s ~240 patients is at the heart and soul of his daily routine.
“I’ve got a strong passion for food, so being able to bring my Chef experience into patient food while increasing the quality of the food and the service that we provide is everything,” he said.
Six years of retail food experience at PA Hospital and a dream in hand, Jayden took a serendipitous leap across the ditch to QEII in 2023.
A year on, Jayden’s mission to raise the standard of both the food and the service provided at QEII is well on its way to fruition, with a basketful of good food initiatives bringing a bright spot to the days of patients throughout the hospital.
“Our patients are getting poked and prodded all day, they can’t sleep, they’re uncomfortable. Meals are often the one positive thing that happens in a patient’s day, and that’s not something I take for granted.
“Food is something that's really celebrated and really spoken about. I take pride in the fact that if we can deliver on service and the quality and nutrition, then we can make their day better.”
While he dreams up new ways to bring fresh ideas to the table, Jayden says the daily success of Food Services is a testament to the teamwork of the nearly 50-strong workforce behind it.
“I would love to see the team celebrated, because they are the ones who put in all the hard work to deliver this service. I might be directing the boat, but they’re the ones pulling the oars.
“We’ve achieved a lot in a year, and we’re always working on new strategies to enhance the service we provide here. That has extended to the retail food at QEII, which has more than doubled in numbers since this time last year.”
Forging ahead on his vision to strengthen QEII Food Services from the inside out, Jayden is all about fostering a person-centred culture at both sides of the operation.
“My vision is to build a workplace culture of staff who support each other to deliver the optimum service in food, to be to be the best at what we do, not just the quality of what we do, but the service that we deliver,” he said.
“When you’re not in front of patients every day, it’s easy to become detached, so I always remind my team that the patients are always at the centre of why we’re here, and we take pride in that.”
Thanks to Jayden and the whole Food Services team for your ongoing commitment to supporting each other and the QEII community.