Nutrition Day - Letchworth Hall Hotel

On Thursday 16th March we held a Nutrition Day for our chefs, catering staff and Home Managers at Letchworth Hall Hotel.The agenda was a wide ranging one covering a spectrum of nutrition related subjects including the Mealtime Experience, Nutrition Recording, Activities and Nutrition, Specialised Diets, Fortification and Oral Health.

The day was run by Donna Steeden (Support Services Manager) and her team supported by Joanne Reid (Learning and Development Manager) and her team as well as visiting specialists in a number of fields related to nutritional health.

It was a day spent discussing great food and how to ensure that each and every one of our residents gets the best out of their dining experience here with us at Quantum Care. We have a broad range of different dietary needs within our homes, along-side varying abilities, and days like this help to ensure that everyone is kept up-to-date with advances in the methods and the technologies that can be used to help satisfy such a wide range of needs.

There’s a great deal of necessary science behind good nutrition and a great deal of good practice guidance too but a good part of the day was spent discussing the “softer” side of nutrition; those things that can be done to ensure that the dining experience is made more enjoyable for residents which often results in better nutritional health overall. There was also a special focus on choice and on dignity, which are two of the centre pins of our Rhythm of Life approach to person centred care. 

It was an incredibly interesting day, with a great deal of engagement from all of the teams who came to participate. Many of our chefs and team members have worked in restaurants and at front-of-house and their enthusiasm for what they do wasn’t hard to spot.

We ended by gathering around our demonstration tables which showcased some of the dishes made by our chefs as well as some of the methods that can be used to satisfy differing nutritional needs.

Our thanks go to the following specialists and their teams for supporting the day and for sharing their knowledge and experience with us on the day:

Jo Bonser, MD HCSUK, Mealtime Experience.
Alison Smith, Dietician, Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, Fortification.
Emma Riley, Healthcare Services Director RIS Healthcare, Oral Health.