Hospitals offer snacks and drinks for sale to patients, staff and visitors. As food choice is heavily influenced by the options on offer, the present study audited the availability and purchase of snacks and drinks available in all NHS hospital sites across a large UK city. Data on the type and nutritional composition of all single-serve snacks (n=407) and drinks (n=238) available for sale in 76 hospital-based food retail units were collected. Purchasing data were obtained for products sold from a subset of food retail units over 4 weeks (6 units; 68,274 product sales). Single-serve snacks and drinks varied markedly in calorie content (snacks 18-641kcals; drinks 0-270kcals), fat content (snacks 0-39g; drinks 0-9g), sugar content (snacks 0.1g-76g; drinks 0-56g) and salt content (snacks 0.2g-2.9g; drinks 0-1.1g). Baked goods were the least healthy snack option (mean content: 383 kcals, 17g fat, 29g sugar and 0.4g salt). Most of the top selling products were crisps, confectionary, baked goods and hot drinks. Only 5/20 top selling snacks were healthy options. While healthy snacks and drinks are readily available in NHS sites, there is scope to reduce the availability of unhealthy options further and to support consumers to make healthier choices.
