Table 1 Healthcare Retail Standard: summary of requirements

Type of outlet to which HRS applies

Retail outlets – those where food is not prepared on-site but is ready for immediate purchase and consumption. Examples include a convenience store, newsagent, mobile or pop-up store or trolley service.

Mixed outlets – those which offer a combination of catering and retail provision. Mixed outlets in healthcare buildings should comply with both the HRS and the existing Healthy Living Award Plus scheme for catering outlets.

The Healthy Living Award Plus scheme is a reward scheme for catering establishments in Scotland which demonstrate a high level of commitment to supporting healthy eating. Similar to HRS, establishments must meet criteria concerning the balance of the product range and avoiding promotion of less healthy items. http://www.healthylivingaward.co.uk/caterers/the-plus-award

Provision criteria

Retail outlets should stock a range of food items that are not high in fat, salt and sugar.

At least 50% of food items and at least 70% of drinks must meet specified nutrition criteria. Water is not included (ie. 70% of drinks excluding water have to meet specified nutrition criteria).

Nutrition criteria are set out here: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/10/5243/7

Promotions criteria (individual products)

Only food items/products that meet specified nutrition criteria can be promoted.

Promotions are defined as: ‘a mechanic or action used to induce consumers to purchase a product which was otherwise not intended to be purchased’, including:

• price reductions,

• multi-buys,

• prominently positioned displays (e.g. at till points, at the outlet entrance, in dump bins, at gondola ends and at the queue management system

• and others, including up-selling (verbal suggestion by the till assistant) (SGF¹⁵).

Originally all price-marked packs (packs with the price printed prominently on the packaging) were defined as promotions and therefore not permitted for products not meeting specified nutrition criteria. The HRS rules were amended following feedback from retailers that some items were only available in such packaging. After considering different product sizes, the Scottish Government agreed to allow price-marked packs if the price-marking covered less than 25% of the pack face.

Promotions Criteria for ‘Meal Deals’: promotional bundles offering a sandwich (or similar), snack and drink for a fixed price.

Only products which are permitted to be promoted can be included in a meal deal.

Meal deals should:

◦ be based around starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta;

◦ contain a portion of fruit and/or vegetables; and

◦ items included should not be high in fats, salt or sugars.

Originally only fruit was allowed as the snack item in a meal deal. However, a subsequent increase observed in sales of crisps (and decline in sales of healthier alternatives) led to amendment of the meal deal rules to permit the inclusion of baked crisps.

Monitoring and compliance

All retail outlets run in-house (ie. by the NHS) and by the voluntary sector must comply. NHS Boards are required to have HRS as a mandatory condition of any contract negotiated with a commercial retail outlet.

A monitoring scheme is run by Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF), the trade association for the retail convenience sector in Scotland. SGF provides guidance to retailers on how to meet the HRS requirements and conducts inspections to assess initial compliance. Quality assurance inspections will then be conducted at least every 2 years.