Resident nutrition
The importance of personalised nutritional pathways for residents
The Nourishing Lives collaborative research report conducted by apetito and Care England revealed that, despite its importance, most care homes find catering for extensive nutritional diversity challenging to achieve. Here, Sophia Cornelius, development dietitian at apetito, discusses the importance of providing personalised nutritional plans for residents to ensure health, wellbeing, and quality of life
Care homes offer a crucial sanctuary for individuals who can no longer live independently due to escalating care needs or safety concerns. As we age, our bodies naturally deteriorate, leading to increased dependence and a range of health conditions that necessitate specialised support. Consequently, care home residents tend to be older, with over 80 per cent of those in England and Wales being aged 65 or above.1
These age-related health
conditions often result in complex dietary needs, requiring meticulous meal planning and nutritional support to maintain their health and wellbeing. These facilities play an essential role in ensuring the wellbeing and safety of our aging population, providing a supportive environment tailored to their unique needs. Personalised nutrition pathways are an
invaluable tool that homes should utilise for supporting residents to not only meet their nutritional needs but also enjoy mealtimes and have a positive dining experience. Mealtimes are undoubtedly an important time of the day within care homes, as not only can food be a highlight of someone’s day, but it is also an opportunity for residents to engage with one another. The value placed on this time of day amplifies the importance of care homes providing a positive dining experience; however, for staff this can become increasingly challenging when catering for different specialist dietary needs. The Nourishing Lives report found that every care home surveyed had between 3 per cent and 19 per cent of residents living with a specialist dietary need. Yet, 19 per cent of care homes said they find it challenging to provide residents with a balanced diet across wide-ranging resident’s needs.2
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Personalised nutrition pathways are an invaluable tool
The risk of malnutrition Some conditions that require specialist diets, such as dysphagia, increase the risk of malnutrition – one of the consequences which could create greater dependence and further the strain on a home’s staff. Personalised nutrition pathways can support care homes to better understand the needs of their residents and therefore more easily plan their catering to help with preventing malnutrition. One aspect of a personalised nutrition
pathways is assessing residents’ nutritional status, which enables early detection or prevention of malnutrition. The British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) designed the malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST) which provides a step-by-step pathway to identify someone’s risk of malnutrition or if they are malnourished.3 Based on this score, the pathway provides guidance on management to support in the development of care plans. Assessment of a resident’s nutritional status using MUST or an alternative validated screening should be done on admission and then at least once a month thereafter.4 Screening tools are often a necessity for residents to receive more specialist input
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com November 2024
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