An enjoyable food and dining experience is vital to the health, wellbeing and quality of life of older Australians in aged care. People who enjoy their dining experience are more likely to eat and drink well, reducing the risks of malnutrition, dehydration and unplanned weight loss.
As an aged care worker, you play an important part in ensuring the needs and preferences of the people in your care are understood and supported and that you are meeting the Aged Care Quality Standards.
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has established a Food, Nutrition and Dining Advisory Support Unit and hotline to help aged care staff and providers improve the delivery of higher quality and more nutritious meals to people in aged care in a way that works for them.
For information for aged care consumers, visit the Food, Nutrition and Dining (consumers) page.
For information for aged care providers, visit the Food, Nutrition and Dining (providers) page.
Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline – 1800 844 044
People receiving aged care, their representatives, approved providers, aged care staff, advocacy services, other health and medical professionals can call the Hotline with enquiries, questions, concerns and complaints about food, nutrition and dining.
Aged care providers and staff can call the hotline to:
- speak with professionals about issues, ideas or concerns they may have about providing an enjoyable food, nutrition and dining experience.
People receiving aged care and their representatives can call the hotline to:
- ask questions, seek support and raise concerns or complaints about their food, nutrition and dining experience in aged care.
The Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline is available on 1800 844 044, 9.00 am to 5.00 pm AEDT, Monday to Friday.
More information on accessing the hotline and what to expect when you contact us can be found in our new resource ‘About the Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline – provider fact sheet’.
Resources
Our resources aim to support you to deliver high-quality, enjoyable food and dining experiences for the people you care for.
These resources:
- Help to build your capability to identify and act early on areas that impact on eating and nutrition.
- Help you to understand why food, nutrition and dining is so important to the health, wellbeing and quality of life of your residents.
- Empower the people you care for to know what they can expect from their food and dining experience and how they can be involved, contribute and influence changes where needed.
For information for aged care consumers, visit the Food, Nutrition and Dining (consumers) page.
For information for aged care providers, visit the Food, Nutrition and Dining (providers) page.
Food, Nutrition and Dining Expert Advisory Group
The Commission’s Food, Nutrition and Dining Expert Advisory Group was key to developing these resources, including testing draft versions with providers and aged care staff, and consumers in a series of focus groups. The Food, Nutrition and Dining Expert Advisory Group brought together wide-ranging expertise in the areas of:
- consumers and advocacy
- cultural and linguistic diversity
- nutrition
- food preparation and service
- speech pathology
- dementia care
- nursing and wound care
- dental and oral health.
Our resources support good practice in four priority areas including dining, choice, swallowing and oral health.
Planning for change
The Commission's goal planning document is a support tool for providers and aged care staff to plan to improve food, dining, nutrition and consumer choice.
- Food, nutrition and dining: a reflection on practice PowerPoint template for providers
- Food, nutrition and dining stand-up discussion notes for providers
The PowerPoint and stand-up discussion note resources provide suggestions for group learning experiences that provider Learning and Development (L&D) staff and managers can use during training and stand-up meetings. Their purpose is to promote discussion, reflection and education, to support staff with improving the food, nutrition and dining experience of people in their care.
Dining resources - provider and aged care staff
- Dining in residential aged care - tips and tricks fact sheet
- Know, Observe, Support, Act poster
- 8 facts you need to know about each resident poster
- Getting the dining experience right aged care staff fact sheet
- Getting the dining experience right provider fact sheet
- Getting the dining experience right poster
Video
This video outlines how you and your staff can ensure an enjoyable food and dining experience for residents.
Aged Care Learning Information Solution (Alis)
Access the Getting the dining experience right module on the Aged Care Learning Information Solution (Alis).
Choice resources
- Supporting choice about food and drink in aged care – aged care staff fact sheet
- Supporting choice about food and drink in aged care – staff fact sheet
- Providing food and dining choice – staff poster
- Food and drink in your aged care – supporting informed choice and risk – aged care staff poster
Swallowing resources
- Supporting safe and enjoyable mealtimes for people with swallowing difficulties provider factsheet
- Nutrition and texture modified food and drinks provider factsheet
- Supporting safe and enjoyable mealtimes for people with swallowing difficulties aged care staff factsheet
- Nutrition and texture modified food and drinks aged care staff factsheet
- Informed choice and supported decision making for people who plan to Eat and Drink with Acknowledged Risk (EDAR)
Video
This video is an introduction to supporting residents with swallowing difficulties.
Aged Care Learning Information Solution (Alis)
Access the Supporting residents with swallowing difficulties modules on the Aged Care Learning Information Solution (Alis).
Oral health resources
- Supporting daily oral health care in residential aged care provider fact sheet
- Supporting daily oral health care in residential aged care staff fact sheet
- KNOW, LOOK, ACT Recognising and responding to oral health issues in aged care provider fact sheet
- KNOW, LOOK, ACT – Oral Pain aged care staff poster
Video
This video is an introduction to daily oral health and how to recognise and respond to signs of poor oral health.
Aged Care Learning Information Solution (Alis)
Access the Supporting residents' oral health module on the Aged Care Learning Information Solution (Alis).
Nutrition during COVID-19
Keeping the people you care for engaged and healthy is an ongoing priority for all aged care providers and continues to be important now that COVID-19 has become part of business as usual.
Visit Nutrition during COVID-19 for some simple steps to prevent, identify and manage malnutrition risk during an outbreak.
Webinars
A series of webinars are available to support providers to deliver high-quality, safe and enjoyable food and dining experiences.
Feedback
We would welcome hearing positive stories and case studies from you, and would like creative constructive suggestions on how we can further improve food, nutrition and dining in aged care.
We are interested to know how you have brought about effective change. Please send through your stories, case studies and ideas to info@agedcarequality.gov.au. This, with feedback from the webinars, will inform further engagement and education activities for the broader sector.
You can also send any supporting videos, photos or other visual material (ensuring first that you have secured the permission of any people featured in videos and photos to share their image).