LONDON - British doctors are urging a celebrity chef who pressured the government into improving school dinners to help their campaign to boost the state of hospital food.

TV chef Jamie Oliver forced the government to increase the amount of money it spent on school food after a high profile campaign and television series. The doctors are hoping the feisty Oliver can do the same for them.

"Better food would enable patients to get better more quickly," the British Medical Association's Chairman Simon Eccles told the BBC.

"What doctors are served in the evenings is pretty awful - and the food the patients get served is substantially worse. We often see relatives bringing in food for patients."

Oliver, famed for his "Naked Chef" books and TV shows, embarrassed British Prime Minister Tony Blair into action before the election with a television series in which he tried to feed children on the government's budget.

The government responded by donating 220 million pounds.

A spokesman for Oliver said the chef's schedule was very full over the next 18 months but suggested the initiative used in schools could be duplicated for hospitals.

"Just as we now know that good food is important for kids' general well-being, nutrition is also crucial to the healing process."

(Agencies via Xinhua)