10th July 2017

Where is the Jamie Oliver for care homes?

A training centre for school cooks has been established to help staff who have never been trained to cook nutritious and delicious meals from scratch.  This is almost certainly a follow on from the Jamie Oliver momentum from a few years ago.  Quite rightly schools have raised their game and also the budget for school dinners.

Where does this leave care homes?  Care home catering needs some Jamie Oliver momentum - a celebrity who cares about food in care homes as much as we do.  Food in a care home not only provides the nutrition and enjoyment of a meal but also the social centre of the day.  A time to interact with others and chat. 

Strawberry cake

At Chosen with Care we believe food is going to be the next 'big thing' in care homes.  It is going to be one of the main differentiators between homes.  It is simple for visitors and relatives to assess, we are all experts on food - we know what is good and what is bad.

Care homes, it might be time to start looking at a care home catering school...

 

 

My mother has been acting as my father’s main carer for over a year since he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. Unfortunately she had a fall on Monday and we were faced with a situation where we had to act fast to arrange for her to be taken care of and to look at immediate respite care in order that my father would also be looked after in a suitable care home which could cope with his needs. Luckily we had your report and had already viewed some of the care homes that you short-listed for us. This meant that when the dust had settled i.e. ambulances and paramedics had left and GP’s appointment arranged, rather than having to panic we were ahead of the game. Rather than having to start from scratch we worked through your report and phoned the care homes on the list. Luckily on our 4th call we managed to find a suitable care home that had a vacancy and within hours had arranged an appmt. to view, discussed needs with the manager and secured the room. My father is now being looked after by professionals in a safe environment and I am able to breath a sigh of relief after a couple of pretty stressful days. I have no doubt that without the report that you prepared for us and the advice you gave to go and see the homes on the list “just in case” we would not be in this position and I would probably still be tearing my hair out trying to get the situation sorted. Thanks very much for your advice