A thriving dining experience ‘needs support and recognition’

Aged care chefs, cooks and staff need recognition for the work they do and more support to achieve the food and dining experience everyone wants, a consultant chef tells Australian Ageing Agenda.

“It’s a lot easier cooking in a restaurant than it is cooking in aged care,” said Loretta Reiken, a chef consultant with The Lantern Project – the national community of practice focused on improving the food and nutrition in aged care through evidence-based practice.

Ms Reiken is part of the Epicure team, which undertakes site audits that engage staff, assess nutrition and observe mealtimes to generate ratings mapped against evidence-based principles and the Aged Care Quality Standards. Her role also involves providing education.

Ms Reiken is spotlighting the work of Australian and international aged care chefs at next Friday’s Lantern Conference on the Gold Coast, which has the theme ‘From surviving to thriving’ this year.

“We can definitely thrive but we need the support. We need the resources. And we need the recognition,” Ms Reiken told AAA. “We need to upskill and support staff. You can only do the best you can if you have the right equipment, if you have the right resources, some good training, and the confidence to do your job well.”

It is a highly skilled area and aged care chefs and cooks should be recognised for this, she said. Kitchen teams also need to be acknowledged for the hard work they do, which is more than just putting the meal down, Ms Reiken added.

This is particularly so if there are many residents with swallowing difficulties who are on an IDDSI diet, she said. The IDDSI Framework provides a common terminology to describe food textures and drink thickness to improve safety for individuals with swallowing difficulties.

“The more high IDDSI diets we have, the more work involved in the kitchen to provide that food safely to those residents as per that speech pathologist recommendation. You have to have that skill to be able to produce that and feel confident that what you’re doing is very safe,” Ms Reiken said.

When cooking in a restaurant, Ms Reiken said she might cook four or five dishes as part of mains whereas in aged care, she would be cooking a puree, minced and moist version as well as soft, bite size and easy-chew options. “I have to think about that for every meal that I serve throughout the day from breakfast to supper, and that is really, really complex.”

On improving individual services, Ms Reiken said it was important for management to be involved and to understand what aged care chefs, cooks and staff do as part of food services.

“When management have the willingness, and staff have a good attitude, you can teach so much. It has to come from the top of management that willingness and that want to encourage staff to assist, help, and want them to grow so they too can do the best job they can.”

Leaders panel at Lantern Conference

The Lantern Conference takes place at the Currumbin RSL Functions Centre on Friday 4 November. AAA editor Natasha Egan will also be there to report on the day and lead the government and industry leader’s panel. Panellists include:

• Josh Maldon – Department of Health and Aged Care Assistant Secretary
• Dr Melanie Wroth – Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Clinical Care Advisor
• Sarah McLelland – Aged Care Workforce Industry Council interim CEO
• Charlise Bennett – Diversional & Recreation Therapy Australia president
• Merlin Kong – Aged and Community Care Providers Association innovation and industry development lead
• Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells (invited).

Follow us on Twitter @AustAgeAgenda for live updates from the conference.

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