Think about people’s dietary and support needs with food

This section covers three main areas:

Should we be involved with helping to manage people’s dietary and support needs?

What are the benefits?

  • Food/drink is more likely to be safe and appropriate for the health and wellbeing of attendees
  • Food offer is more likely to be inclusive and aligned with attendees’ tastes, preferences, expectations and habits
  • Attendees with a wide variety of needs, from a wide variety of backgrounds, can be included in the group with smoother management of needs and preferences
  • Staff and volunteers can work with family/carers for consistent, informed, responsive support for that individual

What are the risks?

  • Harm to health (and liability of group/staff) if dietary requirements not managed correctly (e.g. if requirements not known or acted upon or food is eaten despite health risk due to lack of monitoring)
  • Additional demand on staff/volunteer time
  • Attendees served food that they find too difficult to eat
  • Attendees do not feel adequately supported
  • Religious offense, emotional distress, or loss of trust due to dietary non-compliance
  • Attendees with impaired memory or self-regulation eating more than is beneficial (e.g. if potentially harmful food freely shared in group)
  • Attendee confusion or feeling excluded, stigmatised or singled out due to different food served in a different way to the majority
  • Attendees disempowered as autonomy not respected
  • Conflict or upset within group as some intolerant of/object to eating with those with higher support needs or behaviour that breaks social norms

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Key learning from the Food Glorious Food project

  • Attending to multiple and diverse dietary and support needs within a group requires both forward planning and sensitive management within sessions, with adequate staff and volunteer numbers, and appropriate equipment (e.g. tableware) to take on responsibilities for this.
  • Personalised knowledge of attendees cultural, religious, health and dietary requirements, support requirements with eating and drinking, and preferences and habits are key to providing/working with food in a safe, supportive and inclusive way.
  • If support for attendees needs, or their behaviour when consuming food/drink, breaks social norms, this may create discomfort or tension within the group, which may require vigilance and sensitive planning from staff and volunteers to manage.
  • If an individual is served different food in a different way to others due to dietary or support needs, staff and volunteers should be mindful that they may feel excluded or stigmatised and take steps to mitigate this.
  • The preferences and expectations of members regarding food and drink may not align with their dietary requirements, which again needs sensitive management.
  • However, where possible and appropriate, choice and autonomy should be respected with regards to food/drink, or attendees may feel disempowered, controlled or treated unfairly.
  • Dementia awareness training for staff and volunteers is essential for understanding the perspectives of, and issues facing, people living with dementia.
  • Knowledge of legal requirements and responsibilities is crucial.

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What do we need to think about regarding how best to manage people’s dietary and support needs?

What helps?

  • Adequate staff or volunteer time with clear roles and responsibilities for food planning, prep and support, clear communication and co-ordinated planning of staff/vol roles/responsibilities
  • Staff and volunteer knowledge of attendees cultural, religious, health and dietary requirements, support requirements with eating and drinking, and preferences and habits – all logged and regularly updated
  • Access to a range of appropriate/ accessible/ acceptable cutlery and tableware
  • Appropriate alternatives available for those at risk
  • Referral-based records of attendees’ dietary and health needs are routinely verified with the attendee (and family/carer if needed) – including early conversations to understand capacity and potential risks
  • Safeguarding statements/ guidelines that attendees and carers agree to can help set expectations and manage risks
  • Staff and volunteers vigilant to monitoring intake of those who may have dietary restrictions and impaired memory or self-regulation
  • Staff and volunteers vigilant to comments, discomfort or tensions in the group regarding attendees with higher support needs, and to the potential for some to feel stigmatised or excluded due to differences with food consumption
  • Sensitive collaboration with attendees / carers on how support needs and requirements can be managed with professional consultation where appropriate
  • Training for staff and volunteers, including food hygiene, first aid and dementia awareness
  • Clear policy/ protocols for managing attendees who pose a risk to themselves or others

What challenges might we need to think about?

  • Attendees with a wide variety of different cognitive, sensory, emotional or physical needs, as well as wide variety of dietary requirements, tastes, preferences and expectations
  • People with altered taste perception, appetite or dietary support needs such as puréed diets or chewing difficulties
  • Limited staff and volunteer capacity and limited funding to provide options
  • Uncertainty over who will attend and what needs to be prepared, (hence risk of underpreparing or food wastage)

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