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This document was updated on 18 April 2024. Learn what has changed.

What will older people expect?

I receive plenty of food and drinks that I enjoy. Food and drinks are nutritious, appetising and safe, and meet my needs and preferences. The dining experience is enjoyable, includes variety and supports a sense of belonging.  

What does this mean for workers?

Standard 6 describes requirements for providing older people with enjoyable food, drink, nutrition and dining experiences in the residential environment.

For workers involved in assessment and planning:

  • You should seek to identify the older person’s needs and preferences in relation to food, nutrition, drink and the dining experience, including:
    • clinical and other physical issues that impact a person’s ability to eat, include oral health, ability to chew and swallow, the impact of medications on appetite, dementia that can impact appetite, dysphagia and dexterity, etc.
    • dietary needs and modifications, including nutritional needs, allergies and intolerances, texture, cultural and religious needs, etc.  preferences, including what they like and dislike, favourite foods, etc.
    • the level / type of support an older person needs to eat or drink, including seating and positioning requirements, dexterity, physical assistance needed to eat and drink, whether they might need someone to prompt or remind them to eat, someone to cut up their food for them, specialised mealtime assistance, etc.

Also see Standard 3

Dignity of risk

Dignity of risk supports the older person’s independence and self-determination to make their own choices, including to take some risks in life. If an older person’s choices are possibly harmful to them, you are expected to help them understand the risk and how it could be managed to help them live the way they choose.

Some older people may choose to consume food and drink that have been identified as a risk to them. Those risks could be health related, such as sugar, salt, fat, serving size, ‘fast food’, food cooked by family or food that puts them at risk of swallowing difficulty or choking. Older people can choose to accept these risks so they can enjoy their meals and you must respect their decision.

Supporting older people to make informed choices about all aspects of their food, drink and the dining experience is a key part of maintaining their quality of life in residential aged care.

For workers involved in menu development and cooking:

  • Your organisation should have mechanisms for actively involving people in designing menus, including identifying foods and drinks that should be on offer and to develop an enjoyable dining experience.
  • You should consider how you can present food and drink to older people in an appealing and appetising way. This may include, for example, consideration of presentation, temperature, plating and improving presentation of texture modified foods (including through use of moulds, piping or scoops).

Creating appetising foods

Food, drink and the dining experience can have a huge impact on a person’s quality of life.

As people age, they may lose their appetite, become less sensitive to flavour or experience conditions that impact on their ability to eat and drink. As such, delivering nutritious, flavourful and appetising meals that meet peoples’ diverse needs can be a challenge. Food is personal, preferences are complex and can be affected by various factors and what is appealing to one person, may not be appealing to another.

Engaging with older people to understand their likes and dislikes and ways that you can improve their enjoyment of food is key.

  • You should offer choice and variety for older people, including for example by:
    • offering a variety of options for every meal
    • having different condiments or sides available to accompany meals
    • changing the menu regularly
    • including special occasion meals, such as themed events
    • enabling people to prepare their own basic snacks and meals when they want to
  • You should have snacks or alternatives available for older people who want to eat between meals and formal snack times or who don’t want to eat what’s on the menu.
  • You should provide opportunities for older people to share food and drinks with their loved ones, including enabling food to be brought in from outside the service and enabling loved ones to join meals at the residential care home.

The dining experience

The dining experience is a combination of the food and drinks provided, the service and the atmosphere. This experience impacts on an older person’s quality of life and wellbeing.

The dining experience may include consideration of:

  • table and seating arrangements and opportunities for social interaction
  • music, temperature, lighting and ambience
  • how the food is presented, including plating, serving size, temperature and smell
  • how workers interact with older people to provide support to eat.

An enjoyable dining experience can bring pleasure to a person’s day, enhance their wellbeing and quality of life and increase the chances of a person eating their meals.

For workers involved in supporting people to eat and drink:

  • You should know each individual’s needs and preferences in relation to food, drink and the dining experience, including for example:
    • whether they need to be prompted or supported to eat or drink
    • whether they have particular seating requirements or need certain utensils
    • where they like to eat and who they like to eat with.

It is important that older people receive the help they need to eat and drink, otherwise they can be at risk of malnutrition or dehydration. Your organisation should ensure sufficient workers are available to support older people to eat and drink in line with their needs and preferences and at a pace that suits them.

  • You should recognise where an older person has not eaten much and enquire as to why this is. This could be because they didn’t like the food, it was not served at the right temperature or in an appealing way, they did not have the support they need to eat or drink, or this could be indicative of other issues (for example, where they are not feeling well or they are upset).
  • It is important to provide feedback and monitor/document where older people are not finishing their meals or escalate this as appropriate so such issues can be addressed.