Improving food and nutrition in aged care: Arcare Aged Care

I think food is healing for the residents.

It's their home and we are there to make their day.

We can do so many things in aged care.

It does give me more satisfaction.

The new Aged Care Act, along with a new dedicated food and nutrition Aged Care Quality Standard is calling on providers to raise the bar.

In 2024, this team began training with the Maggie Beer Foundation, building their skills through online learning and training hubs.

We found out about the Maggie Beer Foundation training and we were like, well we need to be one of the first people to get on board with this.

And they put together a training package, and most of it was around the quality of the meals, the presentation of the meals, and the dining room experience.

Partnering with the Maggie Beer Foundation, it's really helped us focus on improvement as an organisation.

There are some big advancements in the way. that we run our business, and looking at cost, looking at wastage and making savings, but making sure we didn't compromise the quality of the product that we were putting on the plate.

Many people accessing aged care depend on their aged care provider to supply their meals.

Providers have a responsibility to ensure these meals meet the needs and preferences of older people, in terms of taste, quality and nutrition. The question that we ask ourselves each day is, ‘is the food good for our residents?’ So, quality, consistency, presentation, taste.

It's been great to have the Foundation help us achieve that food-first approach to get nutrition in and reduce supplement use ultimately.

With the Maggie Beer training, the residents can see the changes as well.

They give feedback. The food is good, it looks better. The dining areas look nice. And we're finding that there's less food being wasted.

More people are eating more and enjoying what they're having.

Our residents, they're engaged in the process of being able to select their meals and have feedback provided to the business that goes into developing ultimately what we serve.

The Maggie Beer Foundation gave us an idea of adding flavours and ingredients and seasonings. So the chefs, they're excited, they try new things. We change our menus regularly.

The chefs are really proud of what they do.

We've had a very positive experience with Maggie Beer.

The support that the foundation has given our business in the training modules and the mentor program has been outstanding.

We're able to provide, you know, really good quality service and to walk away at the end of the day knowing that you've had a positive impact on residents' lives.

I would recommend it to anyone who's considering. They're going to get and see improvement in their business. By investing in their food services, aged care providers aren't just serving meals, they're nourishing wellbeing, dignity, and connection.

Find out more about food and nutrition in aged care.