23 Dec 2018 Community

Christmas at Kirkwood: Matthew’s Story

Christmas is a very special time of year for all families, but particularly for those receiving care at the end of life. Our teams at Kirkwood make sure to go the extra mile to ensure that our patients and their families have the best quality time together possible, and make special memories each Christmas.

Meet Matthew. Matthew has been a Chef for 20 years and worked in all different environments, from busy hotels to fine dining. He has recently left his position as Head Chef at Harvey Nichols to work at Kirkwood, where he believes he can make a difference and create beautiful, bespoke food experiences for each individual patient. This is Matthew’s story:

“Starting this role, I was looking for something local in my community where I can make a difference. When I first started, I had a stereotype view of what the food was going to be like here. Now my challenge is to take the stereotype, and change it.  

“I’m used to creating a really bespoke experience for every single individual. Everything we do now is cooked from fresh, and if we have any patient requests, no matter what they are, from a pot noodle to a jar of caviar, we’d like to try and meet that request. One thing we’re focussing on is making a truly bespoke experience for every patient.”

Matthew has a lot of special dishes planned for the festive period, from classic turkey dinners, Christmas puddings and mince pies to personal individual requests.

He said: “If there is something that a patient particularly enjoys or has a favourite meal, we always try and meet that patient’s needs. It can be anything. If somebody prefers a brandy custard or a brand butter, or they fancy a specialist type of ice cream, we’re here to facilitate that.

“At Christmas especially, everybody has an association of food at different times of year. Different people have different associations and different types of food that make them happy. I think one of my jobs is to make every patient’s time here, from a food perspective, as positive as possible.

“We had a patient who was quite unwell when I first started. After having quite a long chat with her, she told me that she loved fresh pasta, and one of her favourite dishes was fresh pasta Carbonara. We got up early one morning, got the pasta machine out, made some fresh tagliatelle and a beautiful Carbonara sauce. I believe that was the first time she’d eaten in a few days.

“It is about taking the small steps and identifying that perfect food that would start building her appetite up again.

“We have had all sorts of requests from filet steak with pepper sauce to smoked mackerel pâté with horseradish. We’ve not had a request to date that we haven’t been able to meet, so I’m still looking for that challenge.”