Compassion, respect, caring ….. Does your organisation have a list of words describing its values to guide its strategy and operations? Do you know your employer’s values off the top of your head? And are they meaningful to staff – and demonstrated by senior management? Are the values reflected in your residential care meal service? Next time you have a catering meeting, reflect on one of the […]
Do your staff, residents and community love a good coffee? Check out the latest in state of the art super automatic machines providing both the fully automatic convenience for 24 hour barista-quality coffee along with the ability to still have your Café staff steam your milk with a wand if desired. Option for payWave or drinker ID scan. For many suffering from limited mobility, turning over in […]
Quite a lot, actually, now that Steve Rooney has joined Australian Pasteurised Eggs. Steve sings the praises of the benefits of pasteurised eggs in aged care – and I found out why at a recent fireside chat with Steve. Jo: are you a cyclist or an egg man? Steve: Haha – both! Eggs were very important to me during my competitive cycling life, and helped me be […]
This great article in Harvard Business Review discusses the positive impact of teams in organisations – and how teams are hidden from organisation charts and hierarchies, even though 83% of workers surveyed said most work is done as part of a team. While the traditional focus is usually on improving collective company culture or individual staff performance and engagement, the authors suggest great teams and teamwork aren’t […]
Chefs and cooks in residential aged care are continually under pressure to deliver nutritious meals that satisfy a diverse customer base. The challenge is to ensure meals meet food safety and IDDSI specs, sit within budget, preparation is manageable, are consumed by the majority and not over-processed. Taste and smell declines with age which can affect dietary intake and ultimately have negative health consequences. Taste loss is worsened by […]
Which chicken dish looks the more appealing? The one on the left is cooked at 95°C and on the right at a much higher 150°C, creating the Maillard reaction (the extra hot (above 140°C) dry heating of carbohydrates and proteins which give us the roasted, toasted notes as in baked foods, chocolate, coffee, etc). It makes food taste better! Each type of food has a very distinctive […]
Ionmy Risk and Quality are a hot topic at the moment in our industry. Have you got your systems in place? You could benefit from implementing smart software ionMy. Enter your risk framework, record all compliments, complaints and feedback, capture all incidents, manage your quality improvement, record and report on your evidence against all standards including the new Aged Care Quality Standards. This useful compliance app is extremely helpful […]
With the introduction of IDDSI, soft diets should be teased apart into 6 – Soft & Bite-Sized for those assessed with dysphagia or 7 – Regular/Easy to Chew for those who do not have dysphagia but still require a soft diet. Implementation of IDDSI may require reassessment of residents by the Speech Pathologist to determine what level of diet is most suitable to maintain safety, dignity and quality […]
April’s The Lantern Project discussion was all about IDDSI and dysphagia. My 3 takeaways? 1. Download and refer to the IDDSI app. Great resource for information sheets, audit tools, movies, etc. Once downloaded, you can use the app offline. 2. The international framework is effective FROM 1 May. Build IDDSI into your discussions and meal service now and implement in a planned systematic way. IDDSI is not regulated and […]
The Queensland Chapter of The Institute of Hospitality in Healthcare held an informative session on introducing the IDDSI framework into healthcare and aged care. New modified food and fluid terminology as developed by IDDSI is coming into effect in Australia on 1 May 2019. The framework will impact your menu, recipes, meal production, staff training, processes, documentation, software, supplier agreements, testing methods, compliance recording, internal audits, quality outcomes. […]