“Nutrition Matters” News

Curbing the Myths Around Colostomies and Diets

Nutrition Matters October 2019
The management of Stomas and Colostomies can be quite daunting for both staff and residents in aged care homes. Many dietitians find that there is a lot of confusion with special diets and colostomy’s.
What is it and why do some people have it?
A colostomy is an opening in the belly that connects to part of the large bowel (colon). The opening (called a stoma) is made during surgery. Part of the colon is brought through this opening and is attached to the skin on the belly. Read more »

Consumer Directed Care in Menus and Mealtimes

September 2019
Imagine you have gone from cooking what you like and eating at a time you want to eat, to having meals presented where there may be little or no choice, the mealtimes regimented and the consideration to your likes or dislikes non-existent. This is the harsh reality for many residents in our aged care homes.
Mealtimes should remain as a pleasure, an event to look forward to. Perhaps the food tastes nice, but you really have a yearning for something else. Read more »

Easy Ideas for Fortifying Your Aged Care Menu

How well do you think your current menu is able to provide adequate nutrition and hydration? Particularly for those clients with poor appetites and who eat only small meals?
Increasing energy and protein content of meals, also known as food fortification, can improve nutrition without increasing the amount of food. This can assist with maintaining weight while providing opportunity for greater nutritional intake for elderly clients with poor appetites. Some of our facilities have reported improved weights and less money spent on nutritional supplements by making simple fortifications to their menu. Read more »

Nutrition Management & Unannounced Agency Visits

Nutrition Matters Newsletter June 2019
Be Confident in your Nutrition Management with an Unannounced Agency Visit.
We are now almost 12 months down the track after the change to unannounced visits, and nutrition continues to be a strong focus of many accreditation visits.
Nutrition management within an aged care home covers a wide range of areas and involves all staff. It can be daunting to figure out where to start in reviewing your nutrition management. Below we outline a few key areas that are crucial to ensuring your home is providing high quality nutrition & Read more »

New Resident with Tube Feeding… Here are Some Tips

Enteral Feeding

We get many questions from our aged care homes on how to prepare for a new resident with a tube feed. So, we’ve come up with a check list of all the things that need to be considered, for a smooth admission for your home and your resident.
First step is to get all the background information
The Type of Tube
Is it a PEG, PEJ, NG?
Most tubes that come into aged care homes are PEG or gastrostomy tubes (meaning they are placed to allow feed to go directly into the stomach).  Read more »

Dignity of Choice in Diet: New Quality Standards – Will this affect your menu?

The new Aged care quality standards are to be implemented and assessed against from the 1st July, 2019, and Standard One is all about ensuring your consumers are able to exercise choice.  It’s a good time to question how you will manage choice especially in regard to meal choice. The agency focus will be to ask your residents questions and then depending on their responses, require your home to provide supporting evidence.
Choice – The consumer’s right to make informed choices, Read more »

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