A new electronic patient meal ordering system in Southern District Health Board hospitals will still be used if hospital food preparation is centralised to Christchurch, the board says.
The ''nutrition service suite'' starts this week in Dunedin and Wakari, and in Southland next month.
Asked if it would be needed if food was centralised, health board women's, children's and public health general manager Elaine Chisnall, through a spokeswoman, said the board would ''always require a process for ordering and managing patient dietary needs''.
The electronic system replaced a paper-based one.
Hospital kitchens face uncertainty because of a national proposal to centralise meals to hubs in Auckland and Christchurch.
The nutrition service suite is the second part of a two-step upgrade, costing $350,000.
The first step, a new inventory management system, was installed 14 months ago. Service and Food Workers Union Dunedin Hospital delegate Cathryn Herd said no jobs had been lost as a result of the upgraded system.
However, staff were on ''tenterhooks'' about the hospital food centralisation plan, and keenly awaited further information.
Ms Herd said the health board had promised workers information as soon as it was to hand.
''We're all sitting here wondering what's going to happen, and it's not a very good feeling,'' she said.
