The Royal Commission’s Recommendation
One of the major changes coming to Aged Care is the strengthening of the Aged Care Quality Standards based on the findings and recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission. A key area of focus of the Royal Commission was the nutrition, hydration and dining experience of residents in aged care.
The Royal Commission recommended:
“…imposing appropriate requirements to meet resident nutritional needs and ensure meals are desirable to eat, having regard to a person’s preferences and religious and cultural considerations”.
New requirements
Following the review of the Quality Standards, the Pilot Draft of the Revised Quality Standards now contains Standard 6: Food and Nutrition. This is a completely new standard, which will apply only to residential aged care services.
Standard 6’s expectation statement for older people is:
“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.”
Standard 6 notes that access to nutritionally adequate food is a fundamental human right, and draws attention to the fact that food, drink and the dining experience can greatly impact a person’s wellbeing. The Standard sets out a number of new concepts for aged care providers, including new or enhanced actions and requirements to:
- Partner with older people on how to create an enjoyable food drinks and dining experience;
- Monitor and continuously improve food services in accordance with the feedback of older people;
- Regularly assess the nutritional and dining needs of each older person;
- Review menus in partnership with both older people and health professionals;
- Promote choice about what, when, where and how older people eat and drink;
- Offer and enable access to snacks and drinks at all times;
- Ensure sufficient workers are available to assist in the dining experience;
- Ensure that the dining experience promotes belonging and enjoyment; and
- Offer older people the opportunity to share food and drinks with their visitors.
New resources from the Commission
The Commission has recently released some new resources to help providers better understand the importance of choice in food and drink in aged care, as well as the dining experience. The full list of the Commission’s resources includes information for providers, staff and consumers, and can be found here. Some of the key new resources are:
- Supporting informed choice about food and drink in aged care (a fact sheet for aged care staff);
- Dining in residential aged care – tips, tricks and what to avoid; and
- Information about a new Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline.
How SPP can help
To assist providers get up to speed with the new food and nutrition requirements that will be in Standard 6, we’ve recently summarised all necessary information into a helpful information sheet. We have also incorporated the new and enhanced actions and requirements of Standard 6 into our comprehensive policy document.
- Info: Nutrition, Meals and Hydration
- Policy: Nutrition, Meals and Hydration (Aged Care)
Other resources for service providers
- Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards – Pilot Program
- Strengthened Quality Standards framework analysis – shows providers how the Quality Standards have been strengthened and compares them with the existing Quality Standards.
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