Make dietitians part of aged care plan

In fact, residents should be seen regularly by a dietitian and this way, any problems are highlighted early and can often be managed successfully, says dietitian and author of ‘Eat to Cheat Ageing’ Ngaire Hobbins.

“I truly believe that if dietitians in aged care were in the forefront of care discussions, you would be able to foresee and manage issues better a lot of the time.

“If you actually went in and talked to every resident on a regular basis, just a chat sometimes, you can do so much to avoid problems and save aged care providers money in the long run.”

Unfortunately nutrition is too often forgotten, according to Ms Hobbins, and the job of a dietitian becomes more problem solving rather than being part of a person’s care plan.

“At the moment in aged care, if someone’s weight changes it usually takes time before it is flagged. At least half the time, by the time you see that person it is already too late to actually do something about it.

“Managing weight gain or loss early can do so much to save a person’s quality of life.

“Reactive care is not helpful,” says Ms Hobbins. “For the people themselves and as a dietitian because you really end up with nothing you can usefully do.”

Ms Hobbins comments that in Ontario, Canada legislation is in place that ensures that each resident gets seen by a dietitian every six months for about 15 minutes as part of their ongoing care plan.

“They are currently researching how this affects the health and quality of life of residents, but it looks like there are much better outcomes. Not only is quality of life improved but it saves money down the track.”

Ms Hobbins says many aged care training programs have far too little focus on nutrition, while it is often the care worker who can highlight nutritional problems in the people they care for.

“Family who see their loved one regularly might not see the change in a person due to poor nutrition, whereas a care worker who comes less frequent might notice changes that aren’t as obvious.

“Especially in community care, where workers come into people’s homes and see their circumstances, issues can be flagged early.

“Community care can have a powerful part in this. Unfortunately if the information is not being given these care workers don’t know what they’re looking for.”

Care providers are getting a lot better, Ms Hobbins says, with organisations putting more focus on resident’s health and wellbeing.

“Diet and nutrition is talked about more and these days nutrition and the focus on good food provides a fabulous marketing edge. That is great for the residents in aged care and clients in community care.”