A patients' group today accused doctors of undermining the troubled programme to improve hospital food.

The Patients Association, which supports the Better Hospital Food programme spearheaded by celebrity foodie Loyd Grossman, said hospital doctors were hindering the scheme's efforts to ensure that patients' meals were not interrupted.

Simon Williams, policy director of the Patients Association, claimed consultants and junior doctors were not respecting the protected mealtimes initiative, which has been shown to improve patient nutrition, because it prevented medics from making ward rounds whenever they wanted.

Mr Williams criticised hospital doctors for their "lack of support" for the hospital food programme, adding it has been difficult to engage them in the reforms.

He told SocietyGuardian.co.uk: "It's always the junior doctors and consultants who are objecting to protected meal times because it's inconvenient to them and I don't think there's an appreciation that food is an aid to healing rather than an interruption to their ward rounds.

"They're the ones stopping patients having meals at protected times."

Andrew Thompson, deputy director of the British Medical Association's junior doctors committee, disputed Mr Williams' claims but added that tougher measures were needed to improve hospital meals.

Dr Thompson said: "It's obviously disappointing that he thinks we're undermining him, we support any move to improve patient nutrition."

But he added that a mandatory scheme was needed to raise nutritional standards. Hospitals are not obliged to sign up to the Better Hospital Food programme.

Dr Thompson said: "Generally there needs to be something that is across the board so that every patient can see the benefit."

The row erupted as Mr Williams admitted that the Better Food Hospital programme was "in limbo" following the government cull of quangos.

The programme is run by NHS Estates, which is being scrapped under the recent review of arm's length bodies.

Mr Williams said: "It's quite unfortunate. It's delayed the programme because people at NHS Estates have gone through a job review and that has delayed some of the reforms we want to implement."

Meanwhile, the Patients Association has called on the government to ban fast food outlets from the NHS after SocietyGuardian.co.uk discovered that there are Burger King restaurants in four English hospitals.

Burger King has confirmed it has outlets at Southampton general hospital, Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge, Mayday University hospital in Croydon and Rotherham general hospital.

The Patients Association said this gave the public the wrong message about diet and healthy living. Mr Williams said: "I don't think it gives the right message at all. The 'H' in NHS stands for health. I don't think that a burger with more calories in it than one person needs in two days should be available in hospital."

The NHS trusts said the restaurants were leased via management companies contracted to run the retail outlets in their foyers.

A spokesman for Southampton University hospitals NHS trust said it had been a mistake to give the management company total control of who could lease premises in the hospital.

He said: "We're in the situation again we wouldn't let the lease go to a management company without having more control over what went in the foyer."

Mr Williams added: "I think it's ridiculous that the trusts are in these contracts in the first place. The Department of Health should not permit this sort of food outlet in hospitals. Those contracts that do exist should not be renewed."

The chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, called for a review of the food outlets in NHS trusts in his annual report on public health published last week. He said the NHS should ensure its catering services for patients, visitors and staff provided healthy food.

He told SocietyGuardian.co.uk: "All NHS organisations have a responsibility to consider the impact of diet in any decisions they make - and that includes the type of contracts they award to suppliers for patients' food - and the type of suppliers to whom they lease space for visitors and staff."