by Martin Jefferies

More meals are going to waste at hospitals in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells than in any other part of Kent.

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%.

The hospital trust immediately behind Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells was Dartford and Gravesham in north Kent, which threw away just over 7% of all meals prepared.

Our figures reveal some hospital patients in Kent are being served meals costing just £1.65.

And there is 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.

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