Food and Nutrition best practice in Care Homes for Older People

An individualised approach to food and nutrition for residents in Care Homes for Older People is a major element of delivering effective individual care plans. The food and nutrition needs of older people who are resident in care homes can not be met by a one size fits all approach to meal and food planning. The old approach of "cook" planning a seven day series of meals with limited choices certainly will not do as part of an individualised care planning approach.

When considering the individual food and nutrition needs of a residents a number of factors will need to be considered. The individual resident may have clear likes and dislikes that will need to be taken into account while at the same the care planner will want to ensure that the resident will receive a sufficient range if interesting and palatable foods so that their nutritional needs are met.

We have linked here to some useful resources that provide information about best practice in the field of food and nutrition for elderly residents of care homes.

BAPEN Bapen is The British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. It is a multi-professional association and registered charity. Established in 1992, BAPEN is committed to improving nutritional care and treatment in hospital, care and the community. Their website has a wide rage of useful and educational material on a raneg of nutrition issues. They have a good tool for Nutritional risk screening called MUST(Malnutrition Universal Nutrition Screening Tool).
The address for BAPEN Office , Secure Hold Business Centre , Studley Road, Redditch, Worcs, B98 7LG Tel 01527 457 850 Fax 01527 458 718

Also available is the document "Food, Fluid and Nutriitional Care in Hospitals 2003". This was written for hospitals but most of it is relevant for caring for older people in care homes.  It should be available from Health Imrpovement Scotland.

Another Scottish publication is "Food in Hospitals national catering and nutrition specification for food and fluid provision in hospitals in Scotland 2008." This should be available from the scottish government website.

The Royal Institute of Public Health have a document called "Eating for Health in Care Homes - a practical nutrition handbook 2006"  This should be available via the RIPH website.

Another useful document is published by The Caroline Walker Trust. "Eating well for older people: practical and nutritional guidelines for food in residential and nursing homes and community meals. Second Edition 2004"

The following are some other useful publications;

A Practical Guide to Eating and Nutrition Care (Home Caregiver Series)  and Effective Menu Planning for the Elderly Nutrition Program