When I had a baby by caesarean I was kept in for a couple of days. During each meal-time my husband was forced to leave, giving me a "protected meal-time". What this meant was that I had to haul myself out of bed, despite being immediately post-op to tend to my baby whilst my food went cold. If my husband could have stayed with me then he could have tended to our baby and I could have eaten in peace. Not that I'd have wanted to - I'm a vegetarian and one day the veggie option was "cheese and potatoe pie" which was actually cheesy mash. This was served with normal mash and sauted potatoes!!! Potato, potato, potato - a very beige and unbalanced dinner! I'm also NHS staff and find the below-inflation pay "rise" a huge insult. Thankfully, my immediate manager is extremely appreciative of the work we do which does create a good working atmosphere and some motivation.