Dietitian Consultancy for Residential Aged Care

Beyond Dietetics supports aged care providers to deliver nutritious, enjoyable and appropriate meals that meet the needs of residents.

Menus in aged care require regular review to ensure they remain suitable for residents’ changing health needs, preferences, appetite, chewing and swallowing ability, and nutrition requirements. A menu may appear balanced on paper, but this does not always reflect what is prepared, served or consumed.

Our aged care menu audit and mealtime assessment helps identify strengths, gaps and opportunities for improvement across your food service system.

Our Aged Care Consultancy Services May Include

• Audit of menus and special diets
• Review of nutrition content and serving sizes
• Assessment of texture-modified diets and thickened fluids
• Review of cultural food needs, including Asian dietary patterns and culturally      familiar meals
• Guidance on identifying malnutrition risk
• Review of food-related policies, procedures and operations
• Review of nutrition screening and referral pathways
• Recipe and menu analysis
• Advice on oral nutrition supplements where appropriate
• Support with IDDSI implementation
• Diabetes, weight management and nutrition risk guidance
• Staff education and practical troubleshooting
• Regular visits and contracted dietitian support

Our menu and mealtime assessment looks beyond the written menu. We consider how meals are planned, prepared, served and supported in practice.

This may include:

• Visiting your organisation to meet with catering, care and clinical staff
• Reviewing menu cycles, recipes and food service processes
• Auditing serve sizes
• Reviewing documentation and nutrition-related procedures
• Assessing how special diets are managed
• Identifying processes for malnutrition screening and nutrition support
• Reviewing how food service links with resident nutrition care
• Providing practical recommendations for quality improvement

Following the assessment, we provide a clear written report outlining key findings and recommendations. This can support internal quality improvement, staff guidance, care planning and preparation for external review.

Regular input from an Accredited Practising Dietitian can help aged care providers respond early to nutrition concerns and maintain a high standard of food and nutrition care.

Contracted dietitian support may include:

• Regular site visits
• Review of resident nutrition care needs
• Attendance at catering or nutrition care meetings
• Development of nutrition screening processes
• Advice on nutrition supplementation and monitoring
• Review of special diets and texture-modified meals
• Staff education and training
• Support with documentation and quality improvement
• Practical advice for complex nutrition concerns

Visit frequency can be arranged based on your organisation’s needs.