Aged care resident and National Older Persons Reference Group member Rosemary Seam
Food was one of the top 5 care/service delivery issues* raised with OPAN advocates in the last financial year by older people living in residential aged care.
A 2023 Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission report, based on hundreds of interviews conducted by OPAN, identified choice, quality and temperature as key areas of concern.
Most of us take for granted our autonomy when it comes to mealtime. We often don’t realise how much choice and control we have over the food we eat – but that’s typically not the case for older people in aged care homes.
OPAN National Older Persons Reference Group member Rosemary Seam has noticed a marked deterioration in the quality of the food she is being served in the 4 years she has been living in residential aged care.
‘The meals are adequate, but they are nothing to rave about, put it that way.’
Without the variety provided by occasional excursions, says Rosemary, things would be ‘pretty grim’.
Dining room: ‘vast and impersonal’
‘I’m going out to lunch tomorrow at the local RSL. I’m really looking forward to that.’
Just as important as the food itself is the environment in which it is served.
‘We used to eat in the smaller dining room,’ says Rosemary. ‘All the regulars used it. We all knew each other. It was companionable.
‘But now, they have moved us into the main dining room for meals. I think it’s a cost-cutting measure.
‘The presentation is wonderful – there are damask table clothes, which are changed as soon as there is a spot on them – and it’s got a lovely outlook over the fields.
‘But it’s vast and impersonal. I spend as little time there as I can, really. I miss the intimacy of the small dining room.’
Rosemary joins fellow National Older Persons Reference Group member Danijela Hlis, culinary icon Maggie Beer, and director of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s Food, Nutrition and Dining Unit Jessica Zilujko on the panel of our upcoming webinar, Food for thought: Your choice, your rights.
*According to preliminary 2023–24 data.
If you have issues or concerns around your food, nutrition and dining experience in residential aged care, call the Aged Care Advocacy Line on 1800 700 600 or fill out the form here. You can also call the Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline on 1800 844 044.
Register for the Food for thought: your choice your rights webinar, here.
