Some hospital patients in Kent are being served meals costing just £1.65.

New figures reveal a huge disparity in the amount spent on food across the county, with other hospitals forking out more than £4 a meal.

Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust, which dished up 850,000 meals last year, spends a total of just £4.94 on breakfast, lunch and dinner for each patient - around £1.65 a meal.

But Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust spends £12.16 per patient per day - around £4.05 a meal, according to figures from the NHS Information Centre.

The figures also reveal up to one in seven meals are being thrown away untouched.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust binned 13% of meals last year, while West Kent Primary Care Trust wasted less than 1%.

Across the country, hospitals spend an average of £7.26 a day - or £2.42 a meal. They waste just under 6%.

Shola Oladipo, interim head of clinical dietetics at Kent Community Health NHS Trust, said: "Our menus continue to receive excellent feedback from patients and relatives and perform well in independent inspections.

"The current menus in our community hospitals in east Kent have been planned to be well balanced to meet the needs of our patients. We consider the nutrition and enjoyment of the food provided as a key part of our patients hospital stay.

"We offer choices suitable for a range of patients including those who have specific cultural, religious, medical and dietary requirements.

"We also use locally sourced ingredients where possible to ensure we support the local economy."