In brief

Hospitality academy

A Grade II-listed building in the West Midlands is to be transformed into a hospitality academy.

The project is a joint venture between Dudley College, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and the Black Country Learning and Skills Council. The group plans to transform the council-owned building into what is to be called the Hospitality and Tourism Academy, to be opened in autumn 2004.

The college is to be run as a working hotel, with 80 bedrooms, conference rooms and two restaurants, including one specialising in ethnic cuisine.

The project needs a total of £11m. Funding is being sought.

NHS screen programme

Patients ordering meals by touching a screen next to their bed will soon be a widespread practice in hospitals. The NHS has a target to equip each inpatient at major hospitals with a telephone and TV console by the end of 2003.

The consoles are primarily for entertainment, but touch-screen ordering of meals is already being tested. An NHS Estates spokesman said: "It will increase the quality of the ordering process. Often patients are discharged and the new patient gets the previous patient's meal."

Graham Walker, head of catering at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, called the development "very positive" and said it would enable patients to order and receive meals on the same day, and give caterers valuable information from the database.

Hotels on camera?

Has your hotel ever been featured in a film or made a TV appearance? If so, Caterer wants to hear about your experiences, good or bad, of lending your property to a film crew for a forthcoming feature. Please contact Christina Golding on 020 8652 8381 or e-mail christina.golding@rbi.co.uk.

Getting personal

Next Friday is Valentine's Day, so if you want to send your beloved a message, find a new beloved or get in touch with an old one, e-mail your personal ads to Caterer's free Personal column at caterer.responses@rbi.co.uk.