Ngaire Hobbins joins Anchor Excellence
The move comes months ahead of the strengthened quality standards.
Nutrition expert for older adults and author Ngaire Hobbins has joined aged care consultancy Anchor Excellence as a specialist consultant to help providers boost their food, nutrition and the dining experience.
Ms Hobbins is an accredited practising dietitian with 40 years’ experience including 20 in clinical and community nutrition within aged care and member of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s advisory group on food, nutrition and the dining experience.
She is the author of several books including Eat to Cheat Ageing, Eat to Cheat Dementia and Better Brain Food and regular keynote and public speaker. Following two decades of self-employment as an aged care consultant, Ms Hobbins said she was excited about her new role.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and I wanted to be able to use my experience and passion for aged care to help organisations to deliver excellence in the six things that matter most to the majority of older people in care – breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. Working with Anchor Excellence is my pathway to achieving that,” Ms Hobbins told Australian Ageing Agenda.
Her move to Anchor Excellence comes months ahead of and because of the launch of strengthened quality standards for aged care including one focused on food and nutrition for the first time: Standard 6.
“I have been of the belief for some time that in the area of food and nutrition, especially ahead of the implementation of the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, that organisations need more than I feel a dietitian alone, or even a team of dietitians, can offer in nutrition and dining experience audits,” Ms Hobbins said.
She said the team at Anchor Excellence had the depth of expertise and experience in governance, compliance and risk management that complemented her own. It’s a view shared by Anchor Excellence managing director Cynthia Payne.
“We see Ngaire as such an important addition to our team of leaders,” Ms Payne told AAA. “From my perspective we see the addition of Ngaire alongside our hospitality expert – Sarina Rodgers – as creating a formidable team for providers of all sizes.”
Together they bring strong third-line risk assurance to systems, processes and practices, she said.
“Sarina reviews end-to-end operations and Ngaire is able to independently review and assess the very technical aspects of nutrition. Her qualifications and experience are perfectly placed.”
Ms Hobbins – who has commenced working with the organisaiton on a flexible basis – said she was looking looking forward to involvement in many projects.
“Our aim is to enable leaders in aged care to achieve excellence in food, nutrition and the dining experience within a framework of improved and sustained capability across the business.”
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