Nutrition champions weigh in to help care homes
Media Release
Scotland’s care regulator, the Care Commission, is spreading the Jamie Oliver-effect into care homes with a group of ‘Nutrition Champions’.
The Promoting Nutrition in Care Homes for Older People programme was set up to provide an educational programme to help staff improve nutritional care for residents.
More than 50 Nutrition Champions have now completed the programme with 86% of those rating it as very good or excellent.
The programme, led by the Care Commission’s Nurse Consultant for Care Homes for Older People Susan Polding-Clyde, involved a multi-disciplinary steering group with representatives from dieticians in NHS Scotland, Glasgow Caledonian University and Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University and Scottish Government.
Susan said: “Making sure older people have nutritious food and drinks is fundamental to good care. Malnourishment is a serious, life-threatening issue for people who are already very frail.
“By bringing a fresh approach to nutrition, the lives of older people can be significantly improved. Simple steps such as presenting food more attractively, offering more of a choice on the menu and being more adaptable must be encouraged and I am glad our Nutrition Champions are making some headway in these areas.
“We have already seen how campaigns by the likes of Jamie Oliver can have a dramatic impact on the eating habits of schoolchildren and adults, so it’s very pleasing to see our own nutrition programme working with older people.”
The Care Commission was established in 2002 and regulates around 950 care homes for older people in Scotland.
A report on the programme found that Nutrition Champions who took part all came from different backgrounds in the care sector, from cooks and chefs to care assistants to managers.
The ‘Champions’ took part in a three-day nutrition course during which they learned about the wider aspects of food and nutrition and the importance of recognising the needs of every individual resident. They also took part in a two-day ‘change management’ course, which gave them the knowledge and skills required to make a change in their care home.
Each Champion has produced a summary of their project identifying what changes have been implemented in their home as a result of being involved in the programme. More than half of those who took part said they could identify improvements in their knowledge or skills around nutrition.
In one case, a Nutrition Champion had asked the daughter of a new resident, who suffered from dementia and required some support, to describe her needs and what she liked for breakfast.
The daughter said her mum liked tea, toast and cereal. However, the woman never ate her toast. The care worker asked the daughter again and she advised the woman only ever ate toast with honey.
Honey was provided for the woman but the toast remained uneaten. It was finally identified that she ate only heather honey and now the resident enjoys all her breakfast.
Other homes found success by using laminated menus, putting flowers on dining tables and arranging set mealtimes so they wouldn’t coincide with other appointments.
At Brookfield Residential Home in Carnoustie residents assisted in the redesign of their dining room. One resident said: “It is much more bright and cheery now, we are all very proud of our new dining room.”
Susan added: “This initiative has been a great success.
“For many people in care homes, meal times can be the highlight of the day so it is vitally important that mealtimes are seen as both enjoyable and as a social occasion.
“The Nutrition Champions are now armed with the ideas, knowledge and confidence to make a real change to nutrition practices in their homes.”
The Care Commission now hopes the programme can be repeated and promote the importance of good nutrition to more of the country’s care homes.
Copies of the report, Promoting Nutrition in Care Homes for Older People can be found within our publications or by completing the information request form.
Case Study: Heather Gill, Brookfield Residential Home, Carnoustie