* 5 December 2023 *

Food is something that is important to us all – and our aged care residents are certainly no exception. Ensuring the highest possible quality of food provision and nutrition is part of our commitment to excellence in care and services.

To assess the quality of our residents’ dining experience, we recently engaged an external organisation to conduct an independent review for us. They evaluated the nutrition and dining experience at all four of our aged care homes and identified areas that could be enhanced.

Their review included interviews with residents and staff at each site to understand their expectations and satisfaction levels. We are very appreciative of their participation and feedback.

We received a report including a comprehensive summary of their findings including recommendations on how to improve the residents’ overall dining experience.

“While I am pleased to report that overall, the results were positive, for example noting that residents felt food quantities were plentiful, there were a number of areas they identified to make the experience more enjoyable for residents,” said Corinne Lyon, General Manager Residential Services.

An action plan has been developed and a new working party is addressing the required actions.
We have also obtained guidance on how to support residents with dementia to ensure they have a positive dining and nutritional experience, and this has been incorporated into the action plan.

Finally, we will be developing a Food and Nutritional Dining Experience Work Guide.

We look forward to bringing you an update on all this in the new year.