TALES of horrible hospital food may soon be a thing of the past -- when a new national NHS menu is introduced.

Still in the design stages, the menu aims to cut the £45million wasted every year on uneaten hospital food.

Patients at Preston Acute Hospitals and Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust may be among the first to taste the new meals -- trials will take place later this year -- but if area hospitals are not selected, local patients will have to wait until April next year to sample the new menu.

Nearly £40 million will be dished out over the next four years to improve the quality and availability of hospital food.

By next year, patients in all NHS hospitals will even be able to have a meal at any time, thanks to a 24-hour ward call service.

TV personality Lloyd Grossman is heading a panel of leading chefs, including the head chef at the London Savoy Hotel, Anton Edelmann. The panel have visited 18 NHS Trusts around the country and, with the help of nurses, dieticians, catering professionals and patients' representatives, they are now designing the new NHS menu. The initiative will help reduce the amount of food wasted by patients many of whom don't rate it. According to the second national survey of NHS patients in England, in the worst performing hospitals one third of patients thought the food was poor.

Health minister Gisela Stuart said: "It is a fundamental right of patients in our hospitals that the food is of the highest standard. Not only is it essential to the recovery of the patient, it plays a key part in every patient's day.

"It should be of good quality, nutritious, well presented and served at a time that is convenient to the patient."

Lloyd Grossman said: "My team of chefs and I intend to make practical and robust suggestions which we hope will benefit many thousands of patients."