From heartbreak to innovation: the story behind icesupp
Icesupp was born out of personal loss. My sister Amy and I watched our Dad, Ray, battle cancer, and it was malnutrition, not the cancer itself, that became one of our biggest fears.
Dad was diagnosed in 2016. I'll always remember that phone call: one minute everything was fine, the next our world had turned upside down. He was treated at a hospital in Basingstoke by a wonderful team who stressed from day one how critical good nutrition would be to his recovery. We were told that a significant proportion of cancer patients die from malnutrition rather than the disease itself, a statistic that shook us.
As treatment progressed, Dad developed mucositis. He lost his appetite and found swallowing painful. The two supplements the hospital offered made him nauseous. He disliked the taste and texture, and struggled to get them down. The longer we spent on the ward, the more we got to know other patients' families going through the same thing, and it became clear we weren't alone in this frustration; those supplements were unpopular across the board, and we saw the same story played out around us. We watched Dad's weight continue to drop, caught between a poor appetite and food he couldn't stomach.
The one thing Dad did enjoy was ice lollies from the hospital freezer. Dietitians were quick to point out that while these helped with hydration and comfort, they offered little nutritional value. So we were left in an impossible position: an appetite that had all but disappeared, and no palatable way to fill the gap.
Dad lost his battle with cancer in 2017. He's missed every day.
An unlikely founder
Life moved on, as it does. Amy, then a ballroom dance teacher, announced one evening that she was going to create a food supplement for people struggling with their nutrition, just as Dad had. I'll admit, I thought she was a little mad. She had no background in nutrition and no experience launching a food product.
But Amy is determined. She sold her existing business and approached the University of Reading with a detailed brief: a product made entirely from natural ingredients, free from emulsifiers and allergens, with meaningful levels of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. It needed to be stored at ambient temperature yet be frozen for consumption, work as both a frozen treat and a coulis for fortifying sweet or savoury dishes, and, above all, taste genuinely good.
While food technologists worked through that challenge, Amy and her husband Rob assembled a team of specialists, many giving their time voluntarily: oncology, paediatric and elderly care dietitians, alongside business advisors. Nearly all had their own experience of malnutrition, whether through a cancer diagnosis, a child in hospital or an elderly relative in care.
From concept to clinical interest
Three years and a great deal of work later, icesupp launched. Great Ormond Street Hospital invited us to run an acceptability and palatability study, initially planned for a week but extended to five once the results came in.
From there, we began supplying hospitals and care homes. Our first care home trial was with Care UK, evaluating whether icesupp could help stabilise the weight of a high-risk resident who had stopped eating and was refusing fluids. Over a two-week trial, the resident gained weight and showed improved hydration and
skin integrity after trying icesupp.
Barchester followed, trialling icesupp across five homes as part of a broader initiative to explore resident-centred nutritional solutions. Chefs rated it highly across every category for ease of use and versatility. One case from those trials illustrates the impact:
"Mavis is a 99-year-old resident with a small frame. Despite a fair appetite, she had struggled to gain weight for several years, remaining under dietitian input without success. In December, she weighed 46kg with a BMI of 19 and a MUST score of 1, placing her at moderate risk of malnutrition. Her skin was thin and fragile, prone to tears and bruising, and she had short alert periods, mostly dozing.
"We offered icesupp twice daily, trialling it frozen, on its own and mixed with porridge, ice cream or yoghurt. Mavis preferred it unfrozen, mixed into food, and would open her mouth for more. We monitored her weight weekly: 47.3kg, then 49kg, then 51.9kg by early January, a gain of 5.9kg over the trial. She became noticeably more alert and engaged, and while her skin remained fragile, it appeared to heal faster. We'd recommend icesupp be considered for other residents facing similar nutritional challenges."
Seeing Barchester's chefs build icesupp into their own recipe book, weaving it into sweet and savoury dishes, has been genuinely rewarding. We've since taken part in IDDSI chef training workshops with Hallmark Care Homes and attend NACC events regularly. As a small start-up, our growth so far has come almost entirely through word of mouth.
Where we are now
Our mission remains what it always was: helping people achieve good nutrition. We now supply hundreds of care homes, hospitals and pharmacies. Accreditation from Informed Sport has also opened the door to supplying Premier League football clubs, including Liverpool, and one international team took icesupp to this year's World Cup in the US.
It's been quite a journey for a company only a few years old, and it speaks to a genuine gap in the market that needed filling. Icesupp is shipped and stored at ambient temperature, and is available through distributors including Bidfood, Castell Howell, NH Case, Elior and Foodbuy, as well as through community pharmacies and online via Holland & Barrett and Pharmacy2U.
Pairly partners with The Access Group giving UK care providers free access to real-time care enquiry technology
Partnership gives Access Care Rostering customers access to real-time availability matching, helping families find available home care faster and helping providers convert more enquiries into care packages.
Pairly, the UK’s first real-time care marketplace, has announced a partnership with Access Care, part of The Access Group, to give all Access Care Rostering (ACR) customers free access to Pairly Pro through Access Care Connect.
Pairly is the first real-time availability matching and lead capture tool built specifically for the social care sector. The integration connects Pairly Pro with Access Care Rostering, meaning care enquiries captured through a provider’s website flow automatically into their care management workflow. For the first time, live availability will be fed directly from providers and bed management systems, putting real-time capacity directly at the fingertips of care seekers. The Pairly platform acts like a 24/7 digital care coordinator, giving teams instant visibility of availability and helping care seekers access support faster.
The partnership addresses a growing problem across care. The sector has limited data to support providers to quickly respond to enquiries from self-funded care seekers, and many providers still rely on static webchat tools and contact forms. Research from MIT, which examined 100,000 customer enquiry engagements across multiple sectors, found prospects were 21 times less likely to qualify if response times extended from five to thirty minutes. Pairly Pro is designed to close this gap, with the average enquiry taking less than a minute to complete and reach a provider’s Pairly app.
Rather than routing potential clients through a generic interface, Pairly Pro matches care seekers against a provider’s care capacity in real time and delivers a qualified lead directly to the local care team. Care seekers who do not complete the process are still captured and surfaced for follow-up.
Anisa Appleby-Byrne, General Manager at Access Care, said: “This partnership brings together the UK’s most widely used care rostering solution on the Evo AI platform with Pairly’s approach to real-time availability matching. Together, we’re giving Access Care customers a connected front door that turns website visitors into rostered clients faster than anything else on the market.”
Will Flint, Co-founder of Pairly, said: “Partnering with The Access Group is a significant moment for Pairly. ACR is trusted by thousands of care providers across the UK, and integrating Pairly Pro into that ecosystem means we can put real-time availability matching technology into the hands of teams who have never had access to it before. This is how we start to fix the information gap between care seekers and providers at scale.”
Providers already using Pairly Pro are reporting results.
A spokesperson for Nurse Plus said: “Pairly Pro has helped to increase our conversion rate online, with the ability to provide the user with another method of enquiry. It has helped provide more comprehensive enquiry information to our teams, ensuring we can efficiently respond and put the package of care in place best suited to their needs.”
A Bluebird Care franchise in the South East added: “It has helped centralise enquiry management and create more consistency in how we handle incoming requests.”
Across over 1,000 providers, Pairly has managed more than 5,000 care enquiries in the last year, valued at over £300 million. The platform also manages recruitment enquiries, handling over 2,100 care worker applications in the same period.
Pairly Pro will be available to all domiciliary ACR customers from late Summer 2026 once the integration is live. The solution will be rolled out for residential customers in stage two of the integration.
A Game of 64 Squares
Chess is gaining traction in care homes as a powerful tool for cognitive stimulation and social connection. In this feature, Mark Rivlin shares his perspective on the game’s growing role in later life, speaking on behalf of Chess in Schools and Communities and its “Older and Bolder” initiative.
Chess might not be the first activity that comes to mind in a busy care home environment, but that is beginning to change. Once seen as a quiet pastime for enthusiasts, the game is experiencing a resurgence across the UK and is increasingly finding a natural home in care settings.
For providers navigating the ongoing challenge of delivering meaningful, low-cost, and inclusive activities, chess offers a compelling proposition. It is easy to introduce, adaptable to different cognitive and physical abilities, and uniquely positioned to support both wellbeing and social engagement.
A growing movement
The renewed popularity of chess has been driven by a combination of cultural and digital influences. Online platforms have made the game more accessible than ever, while mainstream media has helped reposition it as both aspirational and inclusive. Crucially, this momentum is no longer limited to younger audiences.
Organisations such as Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC) are now actively extending their reach into older populations. With over two decades of experience delivering chess programmes in schools and community settings, the charity has launched its “Older and Bolder” initiative, specifically designed to bring chess into care homes.
The programme builds on successful pilots across the country, from structured courses in partnership with Age UK in Brighton, to community-based sessions in Westminster and Bracknell. These initiatives have demonstrated that, with the right support, chess can engage both complete beginners and experienced players later in life.
More than just a game
At its core, chess is a cognitively stimulating activity. It requires concentration, memory, planning, and decision-making: all skills that are highly relevant to maintaining mental agility in older age.
Emerging research supports this; studies on cognitively stimulating leisure activities suggest they may help reduce the risk of developing conditions such as dementia. While chess is not a preventative solution in isolation, it forms part of a broader toolkit of activities that can contribute to brain health.
Importantly for care settings, chess also appears to remain accessible even as cognitive decline progresses. There is evidence to suggest that individuals living with advanced dementia can retain the ability to engage with the game, offering a rare opportunity for continuity and familiarity.
Beyond cognition, the social dimension of chess is equally valuable. Whether played one-to-one or in a small group, it creates natural opportunities for interaction, conversation, and shared experience. In environments where loneliness and isolation remain ongoing concerns, this should not be underestimated.
A personal perspective
For many, chess is not just an activity but a lifelong companion. Mark Rivlin describes a personal connection that spans decades: “I was introduced to the game of chess at the age of five. My father was a strong player and taught me the moves. Now at the age of seventy, I have notched up six decades of playing the game… Win, lose or draw, I enjoy the challenge of playing against people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.”
This intergenerational appeal is part of what makes chess particularly suited to care environments. It can bridge gaps between residents, staff, and even visiting family members, creating a shared language that transcends age and background.
Rivlin also highlights the game’s accessibility: “Chess is easy to learn, enjoy and succeed, and most importantly, it is great fun to play.”
That simplicity is key. Unlike some activities that require extensive setup, specialised equipment, or significant staffing resources, chess can be introduced at minimal cost and with minimal space.
Practical implementation in care homes
For activity coordinators, the question is not whether chess has value, but how easily it can be embedded into an already busy programme.
The answer, in most cases, is straightforward.
A basic setup requires only a small number of boards and pieces, all of which can be easily stored. Sessions can be run informally, allowing residents to drop in and play at their own pace, or in more structured formats for those who prefer guided learning.
CSC’s “Older and Bolder” programme offers additional support, including trained tutors, teaching materials, and staff training. This can be particularly beneficial in homes where there is limited prior experience of delivering chess-based activities.
There is also scope to build variety into the programme. Mini tournaments, themed activity days, or even friendly matches with local schools or community groups can help sustain engagement over time. For residents with digital access, online platforms offer further opportunities to play and improve skills.
Inclusive by design
One of chess’s greatest strengths is its adaptability. It can be simplified for beginners, paced according to individual ability, and even adapted for those with visual or physical impairments through specialist boards and pieces.
This makes it an inclusive option within diverse resident populations. Whether someone is encountering the game for the first time or returning to it after many years, there is a clear entry point.
A strategic addition
As care providers continue to rethink activity provision in response to changing expectations, chess represents a low-risk, high-impact addition.
It aligns with key priorities across the sector: supporting cognitive health, encouraging social interaction, and delivering meaningful engagement without placing undue strain on resources.
Perhaps most importantly, it brings an element of challenge and purpose. On a board of 64 squares, every move matters, and for residents, that sense of agency and involvement can be powerful.
Rivlin describes chess as “a magical chessboard” with “thousands of options for attack, defense, and even making mistakes”. This mix of challenge, enjoyment, and human connection is what makes chess a meaningful activity in care home environments.
Reimagining Texture-Modified Dining with Culturally Meaningful Meals
Chef Tyler Horton uses a vibrant Masala Chicken with Coconut Cauliflower Rice, Curried Mango Purée and braised vegetables to demonstrate how culturally meaningful, texture-modified meals can deliver both nutritional value and a truly dignified dining experience for residents living with dysphagia.
Honouring Identity Through Food
This recipe was originally created for a resident with dysphagia who needed an IDDSI Level 5 diet. Of Indian descent, she had a family that often struggled to find care settings that could recreate her beloved, culturally familiar dishes. Addressing this need sparked a broader effort: to ensure texture-modified meals do not sacrifice identity, taste, or enjoyment.
Now updated for her transition to IDDSI Level 4, the dish remains flavourful and nutritious. It provides four of the five recommended daily portions of fruits and vegetables, using nutrient-rich ingredients such as dairy and coconut. A carefully curated mix of spices adds depth while supplying plant compounds, antioxidants, and minerals. This approach also highlights a commitment to inclusivity, offering halal, vegan, dairy-free, and allergen-specific options with the same care and creativity as standard menus.
From Care Setting to Fine Dining Influence
Going beyond mere compliance involves a mindset shift. Texture-modified meals should not appear clinical or secondary; instead, they should provide a true dining experience. Collaboration with fine dining establishments has proven invaluable for this purpose.
By partnering with professional chefs and adopting restaurant-level presentation, care teams can improve plating techniques and set new standards in health and social care. The aim isn't just novelty but maintaining dignity. A dish that looks elegant and carefully arranged emphasizes that every resident deserves high-quality dining, regardless of dietary restrictions.
Tools and Techniques That Transform
Consistency and visual appeal depend greatly on proper equipment and techniques. High-quality blenders are vital for achieving smooth, even textures, while combination ovens that can steam and bake offer better control over moisture and structure. The choice of thickening agents is also crucial; options like agar or xanthan gum provide stability without the stickiness typical of traditional thickeners, making swallowing safer and enhancing mouthfeel.
Together with moulding and shaping methods, these tools help teams produce recognisable forms, making dishes more visually attractive and appetising.
Balancing Creativity with Safety
Working within the IDDSI framework demands precision. Recipes must be tested, retested and adjusted to account for natural variations in ingredients and preparation. Texture, moisture and consistency can all shift subtly, making ongoing assessment essential.
Creativity, however, remains central. The focus should always be on what residents genuinely want to eat. Innovation comes from reimagining familiar dishes, not from imposing ideas that prioritise appearance over enjoyment. A beautifully plated meal has little value if it fails to connect with the person eating it.
Embedding Excellence in Everyday Practice
Operationally, the most effective innovation is cultural. When kitchen teams are engaged, trained and connected to the people they serve, quality improves naturally. Encouraging chefs to interact with residents helps build that connection, transforming meals from routine tasks into meaningful moments.
Ongoing training is just as important. With guidance from experienced chefs and speech therapists, teams develop the technical skills and confidence needed to reliably provide safe, high-quality meals. Over time, IDDSI catering becomes a natural part of daily routines, not an extra burden, but a valued and rewarding component of care.
In this way, texture-modified dining evolves from obligation to opportunity: a chance to enhance wellbeing, restore dignity and bring genuine pleasure back to the table.
Recipe (Makes 2 Portions)
For the chicken:
3 Chicken Breasts
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Level Tablespoon Garam Masala, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Cumin, Smoked Paprika, Turmeric, and Tomato Puree
50ml Double Cream.
For the cauliflower:
1 small cauliflower head
1 tin coconut milk
For the mango:
1 Large Mango or 2 Small
1 Tablespoon of Butter, Garam Masala, and Medium Curry Powder (or Madras).
For the vegetables:
4 Large Carrots
1 Broccoli Head
100 ml Vegetable Stock.
Method
For the chicken:
- Fry all your spices in the butter and a little oil for 1 to 2 minutes, until you can smell the toasted fragrance, then add your tomato paste and a splash of water to halt the frying process.
- Turn off your heat and add your chicken breasts (just sliced in half). Coat this, adding salt to taste, then cover and place in the oven at 180 °C for 15-20 minutes (until the chicken is fully cooked).
- This can then be processed with some of the juices whilst adding double cream. (Use a thickener if required to reach the correct consistency to pass the fork drip and spoon tilt IDDSI test.)
For the cauliflower rice:
- Quarter your cauliflower, placing it in the saucepan with your coconut milk. Top with a cartouche (greaseproof paper lid) and cook over a medium simmer for 10-12 minutes, until fork-tender.
- Blend the cauliflower, adding a small amount of liquid as required to reach the correct consistency (once again, use a thickening agent if needed to pass IDDSI tests).
For the mango:
- Fry your spices in butter on a low heat for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
- Turn off the heat and toss in your fresh mango (you can use frozen, but allow this to defrost).
- Blend this (adding a little thickener if required to reach the correct consistency).
For the vegetables:
- Simply braise your prepared vegetables in stock for 12-15 minutes until fork tender and puree as you normally would for a modified meal (adding stock and or thickener as required).
Plating
To create the cauliflower rice look, I find it best to use a nozzle (Wilton 233 tip). Squeeze and release sharply with firm pressure very close to the plate. This can also be used to create spaghetti by applying medium pressure from a height above the plate.
I prefer moulding meat products, pre-brushing the moulds with tamari, a gluten-free, less salty version of soy sauce that gives this beautiful, chargrilled effect.
You can pipe the vegetables so they resemble the original product by cutting a small-to-medium hole in a piping bag, piping long strips for carrots, and building up small balls to create a broccoli appearance. I prefer a slightly modern approach, as depicted, as well as the smear of mango puree. I highly recommend using a good-quality thickener, as it binds moisture in your food, preventing leakage when hot-holding.
Beyond Compliance: Raising the Standard of IDDSI Dining in Care Homes
Moving beyond compliance, care homes are reimagining texture-modified dining through the IDDSI framework. With insight from Andy Cullum (The iddsi Guy) and Debbie Kenchington, Lead Speech and Language Therapist at Askham Village, this article explores how innovation, training and culture can transform mealtimes for residents living with dysphagia.
At its best, IDDSI is not restrictive; it is enabling. It provides a shared language and clear structure for producing safe, consistent meals, while still allowing room for creativity and person-centred care. The challenge for providers is no longer simply meeting the standard, but raising it, ensuring meals are not only safe, but also enjoyable, recognisable and dignified.
From Framework to Experience
The IDDSI framework has transformed dysphagia management across the sector, improving safety and communication between kitchen teams, carers and clinicians. Yet, as Andy highlights, it is still too often treated as a “tick-box exercise.”
Meeting minimum requirements does not guarantee a positive dining experience. Residents do not engage with frameworks; they engage with food. If that food lacks visual appeal, flavour or recognisability, it can impact appetite, wellbeing and quality of life.
At Askham Village, this shift from process-led to experience-led dining is supported through close multidisciplinary working. Their in-house Speech and Language Therapy team not only assesses swallowing needs and recommends IDDSI levels, but also works alongside care and catering teams to ensure mealtime experiences reflect both safety and enjoyment.
Elevating IDDSI, therefore, requires a change in mindset, from compliance to experience.
The Power of Presentation and Recognition
Presentation is one of the most immediate and impactful ways to improve texture-modified dining. As Andy emphasises, “texture-modified meals should still look like food.”
This principle is echoed in practice at Askham Village, where specialist moulding techniques are used to reshape puréed foods into recognisable forms. These visual cues help residents identify what they are eating, supporting appetite, familiarity and emotional connection.
A puréed carrot that resembles a carrot is far more engaging than an unidentifiable portion. Achieving this does not require overly complex techniques, but it does demand consistency, attention to detail and a commitment to dignity.
Consistency Without Compromise
Consistency remains one of the greatest challenges in IDDSI delivery. Variations across shifts, teams and environments can affect texture, presentation and overall quality.
IDDSI is not a single task, but a set of practices embedded across the whole team. At Askham Village, this is reinforced through ongoing, hands-on training led by Speech and Language Therapists, ensuring staff understand not only IDDSI levels, but also how to prepare, test and serve food safely.
This includes practical competency in food modification and fluid thickening, as well as testing procedures to confirm compliance before meals are served. Continuous education builds confidence, reduces variation and supports consistent delivery across all settings.
Innovation Driving Efficiency
A common perception is that improving IDDSI quality increases workload. In reality, innovation is helping to improve both efficiency and outcomes.
Modern kitchen equipment enables faster, more reliable texture modification, while moulding systems enhance presentation without adding unnecessary complexity. At Askham Village, innovation is also evident in the catering team's creativity, producing visually appealing dishes and even modified celebration cakes, ensuring residents can fully participate in special occasions.
Training methods are evolving too. Practical, interdisciplinary training ensures that rehabilitation and care staff can safely prepare food and drink when needed, reducing reliance on specific roles and supporting flexibility across the service.
As Andy notes, innovation is not just about tools, but about adopting a person-centred approach that prioritises both safety and enjoyment.
A Whole-Team Approach
One of the most important insights from practice is that IDDSI cannot sit solely within the kitchen. Dining is a multidisciplinary experience shaped by environment, communication and culture.
At Askham Village, Speech and Language Therapists maintain a presence in dining spaces, supporting staff in making real-time adjustments based on factors such as posture, fatigue, and resident engagement. This ensures care plans remain dynamic and responsive.
Wider environmental factors, including noise, lighting and table presentation, also influence the mealtime experience. A calm, supportive setting can significantly enhance both safety and enjoyment.
When all staff understand IDDSI principles, communication improves, and consistency strengthens, creating a shared sense of ownership across the team.
Preserving Choice and Dignity
For residents on texture-modified diets, loss of choice remains a common challenge. Simplified menus can unintentionally reduce variety and create a sense of exclusion.
Both Andy and Debbie emphasise the importance of maintaining choice through adaptable menus. Wherever possible, residents should receive the same meals as others, modified safely without compromising quality.
At Askham Village, a strong person-centred approach ensures that individual preferences, cultural backgrounds and personal histories are reflected in menu planning. Communication tools, accessible menus, and family involvement further support residents in making informed choices and maintaining independence.
Adaptive equipment, supported by occupational therapy input, also enables many residents to engage more actively in mealtimes, reinforcing dignity and reducing reliance on staff assistance.
Standardisation Meets Creativity
There is a common misconception that standardisation restricts creativity. In reality, strong standards provide the foundation for it.
Clear processes for preparation, testing and presentation ensure safety and consistency, while allowing teams to explore flavour, colour and creativity. As Andy highlights, “people still eat with their eyes first.”
At Askham Village, this balance is achieved through structured training, collaborative working and a shared commitment to high standards, enabling teams to deliver meals that are both compliant and appealing.
Raising the Standard
Elevating IDDSI is not about adding complexity, but refining the approach. With the right training, tools and mindset, care homes can deliver texture-modified meals that are safe, efficient and genuinely enjoyable.
The providers leading in this space are those that treat IDDSI not as a constraint, but as an opportunity. By embedding it into their culture, investing in their teams and embracing multidisciplinary collaboration, they are redefining what texture-modified dining can look like.
The goal remains clear: keep dignity on the menu.
Why Life Stories Are the Foundation of Truly Person-Centred Care
After Cloud founder Darren Evans explains how personal experience inspired Storyteller, why digital life stories are transforming person-centred care, and how preserving identity can strengthen relationships, improve staff confidence and ensure every individual is known beyond their care plan.
How has your journey shaped the platform, and why do you believe preserving life stories is becoming an essential part of high-quality care?
I did not arrive at this from the outside looking in. The catalyst for Storyteller was deeply personal; my mother-in-law lived with Lewy Body Dementia, and watching that illness take hold taught me something I have never forgotten: when a person you know or love dies, a whole lifetime of information and knowledge can be lost in a heartbeat, and there is sadly no retrieval. That loss stays with you. Alongside that, I have spent more than twenty-five years working in and around social care technology, and the idea for Storyteller grew from years of watching, up close, what happens when the person behind the care plan gets lost. I have seen children move through multiple placements with their history scattered across paper files and institutional memory that walks out the door when a key worker leaves. I have seen adults in residential care reduced to a list of needs and risks, with the life they actually lived nowhere to be found. Preserving life stories is not a nice-to-have sitting alongside care; it is part of what good care actually means, because you cannot truly meet someone's needs if you do not know who they are. Our job is to ensure that we know the person rather than the condition.
How can digital life story technology help staff better understand residents beyond their care plans?
A care plan tells you what a person needs done for them. It does not tell you who they are, what they have lived through, what makes them laugh, or what they are frightened of. Done well, digital life story work gives staff a living picture they can return to and add to over time, so that every shift, every new starter, every agency worker stepping in for a day has access to the same depth of understanding rather than relying on whoever happened to ask the right question once. That consistency matters enormously in a sector with high staff turnover and constant handover. It is the difference between care that is administered and care that is genuinely informed and safely and securely accessible.
Where do you see technology adding the greatest value without replacing the human relationships that are at the heart of care?
As I see it, technology's job here is to remove friction, not to stand in for connection. The greatest value is in making sure that the right piece of someone's story surfaces at the right moment, in the hands of the person actually sitting with them, so that a conversation can happen that would otherwise never have started. It also has real value in capturing and safeguarding history that would otherwise be lost entirely, particularly for children in care whose records can be fragmented across multiple agencies and placements, and for adults whose families may not always be present to pass on what they know. But the relationship itself, the moment a carer sits down and asks about someone's wedding day or their first job, that is entirely human, and it always will be. Carers themselves do a fantastic job of caring, and our job is to make sure they walk into that moment prepared, and for activity coordinators to capture the moments of joy that can often take place in a progressive care setting.
How does After Cloud help strengthen relationships between residents, relatives and care teams?
Storyteller is built so that the story is never owned by any one party. I actually believe the story should ideally be applied, even before resident admission. Residents, families, and care teams can all contribute over time, so the record keeps growing rather than sitting stagnant from the day someone joins a service. For families, that is often deeply meaningful, particularly when distance, time, or a loved one's condition makes regular visiting difficult. It gives them a way to stay genuinely involved rather than feeling like visitors to someone else's care. For care teams, it builds trust with families because they can see, not just be told, that the person they love is known. And because Storyteller was designed from the outset to work across both children's and adults' social care, that same principle, that everyone with a legitimate stake in a person's story should be able to contribute to and draw on it safely, applies across the whole of someone's life, not just one chapter of it.
What feedback have you received from care providers using After Cloud, and are there any examples where the platform has demonstrably improved resident wellbeing, engagement or staff confidence?
It's important for readers to know that we are led by an independent steering group of social care thought leaders, chaired by Des Kelly OBE (Des is currently acting as EU Exit Planning Lead for the Care Provider Alliance. He is also Chair of the Centre for Policy on Ageing and was Executive Director of the National Care Forum from 2003 to 2016). We work with innovative organisations including Eleanor Healthcare Group, who are rolling Storyteller out across sixteen of their care homes this year, alongside many other esteemed providers such as Athena Care Group, Panacea, Niche Care Homes, Families First, Amberleigh Care and the Borough of Telford and Wrekin, attracting both CQC and OFSTED-related feedback during regulatory visits. The feedback we hear most consistently is about confidence, staff telling us they feel better equipped walking into a new resident's room or a first meeting with a child in care because they are not starting from nothing. We are also building a formal evidence base for this, including a research pathway exploring Storyteller's impact in residential care, because we believe the case for life story work should stand up to the same scrutiny as any other clinical or care intervention, not rest on anecdote alone. We are proud to hold ARA accreditation and to have been named Innovator of the Year, recognition that reflects the seriousness with which we approach this work. Storyteller was also supported from the outset by an Innovate UK technology grant for research conducted by SEHTA (Science, Engineering and Health Technology Alliance) prior to our starting to develop the solution.
Looking ahead, what do you think the future of digital life stories and person-centred technology in social care will look like over the next five years, and what role do you hope After Cloud will play in that evolution?
I think within five years, life story work will be treated as standard practice rather than a point of differentiation, much as care planning itself became standard decades ago. Regulation is already moving in that direction, and providers are recognising that you cannot evidence genuinely relational or person-centred care without it. Where I hope After Cloud leads is in refusing to treat this as an adults-only conversation. Children in care deserve the same continuity of identity and story as anyone in a care home, arguably more so, because their early years story is still being written and the stakes of losing it are higher. Our partnership with Coram strengthens this as we are a trusted technology provider. We also believe that Intergenerational learning and legacy beyond the care setting itself are hugely important, which is why our work extends to personal memory and digital legacy more broadly, and to preserving history in other forms entirely, from heritage assets to provenance. Our ambition is for Storyteller to be the platform that proves life story work is not a feature you add to care; it is the foundation good care is built on, for every person, at every stage of life.
Above all, we want to ensure that we continue to drive social impact and, where possible, make a difference. We see this in our support for charities like Comfort Cases, as well as other great causes and initiatives, such as Championing Social Care. The sector is supporting the sector with incredible work
The Importance of Nutrition Later in Life
As expectations around later-life care continue to evolve, nutrition is increasingly recognised as one of the most powerful tools for supporting health, independence and quality of life. White Oaks Dietitian, Valentina Giannelli, explains why senior living catering needs to move beyond simply meeting nutritional requirements towards innovation and smarter, practical digital solutions.
Why is nutrition so important as people get older?
Good nutrition plays a key role in maintaining strength, independence, energy, cognition and overall health as we age. Yet despite this, research shows that people over the age of 65 are facing ongoing challenges with both malnutrition and dehydration.
In care settings, one in two older people is at risk of malnutrition, while one in four is at risk of dehydration, simply because they don’t eat and drink well enough₁.
What are the key nutrition areas?
The top priority nutrition areas for senior living are protein, hydration, calcium, fibre, and vitamin B12.
Protein needs increase significantly with age, by around 50% compared to younger adults. Protein plays a key role in supporting muscle strength, balance and independence, as well as immune function, recovery, and wound healing.
Hydration is very important as older adults tend to drink less and are prone to dehydration, which can cause UTI, falls and confusion.
Fibre is crucial for digestion and gut health, with growing evidence of the gut–brain connection, in which gut health can influence mood and cognition. Bone health remains important, and B12 becomes more relevant as absorption reduces with age.
What are the challenges?
One of the biggest challenges is that as we age, appetite decreases, and the portions people eat get smaller. For catering teams, it’s about understanding the importance of these nutrients and delivering enough of it in smaller, more palatable portions, within menus that residents enjoy. This requires strategic thinking and nutritional expertise.
The body's thirst mechanism also becomes less sensitive with age. Residents may be clinically dehydrated without feeling thirsty at all. Over 65, the target is to drink 3 to 3.5 pints of fluids per day. But if thirst has declined and drinks are uninspiring, intake can easily drop well below what the body needs to function safely.
We’re also seeing rising complexity in the people supported in care homes, with an increasing rate of people living in frailty and with multiple long-term conditions. Around one in two older adults live with multiple long-term conditions, and 10% of people over 65 live with frailty, increasing up to 50% for those over 85.₂
A recent report from Lakeland Dairies₃ looked at what is happening in care kitchens. Almost half of the catering teams reported increased complexity in residents’ needs, and 74% were concerned about meeting them.
The big challenge is not knowing what people need, but how to deliver it so it is consumed and helps people to meet their needs. It’s not a one size fits all solution and there are a lot of considerations to make, including medications and cultural requirements.
What are the solutions?
Innovation is key at White Oaks.
We are constantly evolving our sources of nutrition and hydration. An example of this is the introduction of wild venison. Venison provides around 22g of protein per 100g, is naturally lean, rich in iron and B vitamins, and significantly lower in saturated fat than equivalent cuts of beef. Venison also works in the traditional dishes we know residents love, such as stews, pies, and lasagne. We adapt tried-and-tested concepts, improving the nutritional value of the meals people already look forward to.
For calcium, we factor in nutrient-dense desserts, such as rice pudding and cheesecake, and always have cheese and biscuits available. Fortified milk or milkshakes with skimmed powder can also provide extra protein and calcium - and they’re a source of fluid too.
When it comes to hydration, the response must be proactive rather than reactive. Structured drink rounds, variety in what is offered, and an appreciation that all fluids - including soups, juicy fruits, teas and smoothies - can meaningfully shift daily intake.
How important is the dining experience?
The dining experience in a later-life care is far more than simply providing meals; it’s a vital opportunity to support nutritional wellbeing and create meaningful social engagement.
When residents enjoy meals in an environment suited to them, they’re more likely to eat adequately and experience improved overall health outcomes. Communal dining encourages conversation, reduces feelings of loneliness, and helps preserve a sense of routine and dignity.
How does innovation work in the kitchen?
The increased complexity in dietary needs can be challenging for catering teams, so as menus adapt, they must also be practical and achievable in real kitchens in care settings.
This is where White Oaks’ digital platform can help. We use innovative tools that instantly calculate nutrition and calorie content, flag allergens, support nutritional analysis, and help identify gaps that can be addressed with practical solutions – all while making sure menus meet best practices and residents’ requirements.
How do digital platforms help?
Earlier this year, White Oaks launched its first procurement service, Catering Procurement Plus, in partnership with Compass’ procurement business, Foodbuy UK.
The service reflects White Oaks’ holistic approach to solving these challenges, combining digital technology, quality ingredients from a trusted network of suppliers, and expert support from our chefs, dietitians and catering specialists.
The food service procurement platform automates and streamlines menu planning, ordering, stock control, and dietary management, providing access to nutritional and allergen data to help teams save time, stay compliant, and plan menus with confidence.
Along with satisfied and better-nourished residents, the result is lower costs, time efficiencies, reduced waste, and stronger compliance, without the additional expense and complexity of outsourcing the service.
₁Malnutrition -British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) 2022. Dehydration: University of East Anglia (2023).
₂ Multiple conditions: Age UK (2019), Later Life in the United Kingdom Factsheet. Frailty: NIHR (2024)
₃Lakeland Dairies, The Care Kitchen Reset: The Future of Care Catering (2026)
Care Home of the Month, The Chase: Connaught Care
Achieving an ‘Outstanding’ rating for Caring at a first Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection is a rare accomplishment, particularly for a newly established home. Yet at The Chase, this recognition was not the result of a single initiative or short-term focus. Instead, it reflects a deliberately built culture where relationships, empathy and individuality sit at the heart of care delivery.
While the home was rated ‘Good’ overall, the Outstanding judgement for Caring speaks volumes about the environment the team has created in a relatively short space of time. For operators across the sector, The Chase offers a clear example of what can be achieved when culture is prioritised from the outset.
A Culture Built with Intent
From the very beginning, The Chase approached culture not as something that would evolve organically, but as something to be actively designed and embedded. Recruitment played a central role in this process. Rather than focusing solely on qualifications and experience, the leadership team prioritised values; seeking individuals who demonstrated warmth, empathy and a genuine commitment to caring for others.
This values-led approach continues to shape daily operations. Team members across all departments, care, hospitality, housekeeping, maintenance and management, share a collective responsibility for residents’ wellbeing. The result is a cohesive environment where compassion is not confined to care delivery but is reflected in every interaction within the home.
Equally important is the emphasis on teamwork. The Chase recognises that delivering high-quality, person-centred care requires collaboration and mutual support. Open communication, trust, and respect among colleagues are actively encouraged, ensuring that staff feel valued and confident in their roles. This internal culture directly influences the quality and consistency of care residents receive.
Personalisation in Practice
The CQC highlighted that residents at The Chase are “truly respected and valued as individuals”, a statement that is brought to life through everyday practice. At its core, this means understanding each resident beyond their care needs.
Staff take time to learn about residents’ life histories, preferences and routines. From how someone likes to start their morning, to the music they enjoy or the hobbies they once pursued, these details inform tailored care plans that reflect the whole person.
Maintaining independence is another key priority. Residents are actively involved in decisions about their care and daily lives, ensuring they retain choice, control and dignity. This approach moves beyond task-based care, focusing instead on enabling individuals to continue living in ways that feel familiar and meaningful.
Reconnecting with Identity and Purpose
One of the most striking aspects of life at The Chase is how the team supports residents to reconnect with lifelong passions, often with transformative results.
For one resident, John, this meant returning to the drum kit after decades away from music. Once a member of a local band, he quickly rediscovered his rhythm and confidence when given the opportunity to play again. What began as a simple activity became a powerful moment of self-expression, culminating in an impromptu performance for fellow residents and staff.
Similarly, Diana was supported to revisit her lifelong passion for horse riding. Having spent years involved in equestrian activities and volunteering at a local centre, she found returning to the saddle both a personal milestone and an emotional experience for her and her family. The visit reconnected her with an important part of her identity, reinforcing the value of truly personalised care.
These moments are not isolated. At The Chase, uncovering personal interests is an ongoing process, driven by meaningful conversations with residents and their families. Whether it is attending a live concert, reconnecting with a choir, or celebrating a milestone birthday in a deeply personal way, the team consistently demonstrates a willingness to go beyond expectations.
A particularly memorable example involved a resident celebrating her 102nd birthday. Her request was simple: to invite everyone in her address book. The team brought this vision to life, organising a large-scale celebration that reunited friends and family from across her life: a powerful reminder of the importance of connection at every stage of ageing.
Environment, Facilities and an All-Inclusive Model
The physical environment at The Chase has been carefully designed to complement its care philosophy. As a modern home providing residential and dementia care, it offers a range of facilities to enhance quality of life and promote independence.
Residents have access to a spa and salon, gym, cinema, bar and bistro-style café, as well as elegant dining spaces that deliver a restaurant-quality experience. These amenities are not treated as add-ons, but as integral components of daily life, encouraging social interaction, activity and enjoyment.
A defining feature of the home is its all-inclusive model, introduced by Connaught Care. Under this approach, services, facilities and experiences are covered within a single weekly fee. For families, this provides financial clarity and removes the uncertainty often associated with additional charges. For residents, it ensures unrestricted access to everything the home has to offer, supporting a more fulfilling and spontaneous lifestyle.
Partnership with Families
Another key factor underpinning The Chase’s success is its strong focus on family engagement. Recognising that moving into care is a significant life transition, the team places great importance on communication from the outset.
Families are actively involved in care planning and ongoing decision-making, ensuring they have a clear voice in how their loved ones are supported. This collaborative approach builds trust and fosters continuity for residents, bridging the gap between past and present.
In many cases, families also play a vital role in shaping activities and experiences, providing insights into personal histories and preferences that might otherwise be overlooked. This partnership strengthens the home’s ability to deliver truly individualised care.
The Chase’s initial achievements provide a strong example for the industry. By balancing emotional intelligence with clinical expertise and fostering a culture of compassion from the start, the home has established a high benchmark for modern care. As expectations grow, this deeply personal, relationship-focused, and consistently implemented care model will only gain more importance.
Why Every Resident's Story Matters: How LifeLibrary Is Transforming Person-Centred Care
In this interview, Sheridan Norrey, CEO and Founder of LifeLibrary, explains how capturing and sharing residents' life stories is helping care teams build stronger relationships, improve wellbeing, involve families more closely, and provide the meaningful, evidence-based person-centred care that today's sector demands.
What inspired the creation of LifeLibrary, and what challenge in person-centred care were you determined to solve?
My background was in finance, and through property development work with care homes, I began spending a great deal of time in those settings. What struck me immediately, and profoundly, was the extraordinary richness of the people living there. Every single resident carried a lifetime of stories, passions, careers, adventures and relationships. Yet almost none of that was visible to the carers looking after them day to day.
When I started to think about it collectively, I realised that across the care homes in this country, the people living in them represent something like 64 million years of lived experience. That is an astonishing, irreplaceable wealth of human life, and it was going almost entirely unshared. A care plan describes someone's medical needs but says nothing about who they are. I couldn't bear to see those stories sitting dormant in those corridors, and I knew that unlocking them could bring people together in a completely different way. That was the gap LifeLibrary was built to fill.
How does LifeLibrary help care teams get to know residents beyond their care plans, and what impact does this have on day-to-day care?
From the moment a resident joins, LifeLibrary builds a rich, living picture of who they are: their childhood, their career, their passions, their favourite music, the places they've travelled, the things that make them laugh. Carers have all of that at their fingertips, so instead of starting every interaction from scratch, they can walk into a room and immediately connect on a human level.
That shift in dynamic is transformative. A carer who knows that a resident spent thirty years as a jazz musician, or that they once sailed across the Atlantic, can have a genuinely meaningful conversation rather than a functional one. The impact on wellbeing, on loneliness, on dignity; it's profound. Our activities coordinators also use LifeLibrary to identify shared interests among residents, so even group events feel personal rather than generic. As Johanna Johnson, Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Tanglewood Care Homes, put it: 'Together, we share stories, celebrate the past, and create joyful moments every day.' That, for me, is exactly the point.
In what ways does the platform encourage families to contribute to their loved one's care journey and strengthen connections with the care home?
Families are absolutely at the heart of LifeLibrary. They can add stories, upload photos, and share memories directly through the app, so a resident's profile keeps growing and evolving even after they've moved into care. That continuous contribution does two important things: it gives carers an ever-richer understanding of the person they're caring for, and it keeps families genuinely involved rather than feeling like visitors on the periphery of someone else's world.
There's also a beautiful feedback loop built into the platform. When the activities team captures a moment, a resident's face lighting up at a favourite piece of music, or joining in an event that was planned around their specific interests, they can share that photo with the family in real time. That kind of transparency builds real trust. Families feel confident that their loved one is truly known and truly cared for. For care homes, that trust is invaluable.
Can you share a real-life example of how LifeLibrary has improved a resident's wellbeing, engagement or quality of life?
One example that comes to mind is Georgian House Care Home, where LifeLibrary was referenced directly in their CQC inspection report, not once, but across three outstanding categories. The inspector specifically noted how the home was using LifeLibrary to save stories, memories and interests for every resident. That kind of external, independent recognition tells you that the difference is real and measurable.
But the examples I find most moving are the everyday ones. A carer discovers through LifeLibrary that a quiet, withdrawn resident was once a keen ballroom dancer. A playlist is found, a conversation starts, and suddenly there's a spark of real joy in a person who had seemed unreachable. That happens again and again, in homes across the country. Life story work has always been understood to be powerful; LifeLibrary simply makes it possible to do it consistently at scale and share those moments with the people who love them.
With increasing focus on personalised care and regulatory expectations, how can LifeLibrary help providers demonstrate meaningful person-centred practice?
The CQC's quality framework touches on so many areas where genuine person-centred care makes a real difference: how you assess needs, how you support independence and choice, how you listen to people and plan for their future. LifeLibrary creates a living, auditable record of that practice. Every meaningful interaction between a carer and a resident is logged. Life reminiscence work is evidenced. Personalised care plans are built on the foundation of real-life stories rather than clinical snapshots.
When an inspector walks in, providers using LifeLibrary can show, not just tell, that they truly know the people in their care. That's a very different conversation to have. And the commercial case is compelling, too: a Carterwood report from 2024 found that an outstanding CQC rating can boost a care home's revenue by up to 21%. Person-centred care isn't just the right thing to do; it's also a sound business investment.
Looking ahead, what role do you believe digital life story tools will play in shaping the future of care homes, and what innovations can we expect from LifeLibrary?
I believe life story will become as fundamental to a care record as any clinical document. The idea that we know everything about a person's medication but almost nothing about their life is going to look, in hindsight, like a very strange way to care for someone. The sector is beginning to understand that, and the regulatory framework is pushing in the same direction.
Digital tools make it possible to build that picture collaboratively, keep it alive and growing over time, and put the right insight in the hands of every person on the care team at the moment they need it. That's what LifeLibrary is, and we're continuing to deepen the platform's capabilities. We want to make it even easier for carers to surface the right memory or connection at the right moment, and to make family involvement feel as natural and effortless as possible. The future of care is personal. We're building the infrastructure to make that a reality for every resident, in every home.
St Neots care home collaborates with Inspire2Ignite to support young people into work
This week, Henbrook House care home in St Neots celebrated the one-month anniversary of its newest receptionist, Apryl, joining the team – a talented young woman whose journey into work shows the difference that early intervention and support can make.
Like many young people, after leaving college, Apryl spent eight months not in education, employment or training, often referred to as ‘NEET’, and struggled to find work despite applying for jobs every day. Repeated setbacks began to impact her confidence and motivation, and she began to feel unsure where she might fit into adult life.
That changed when she was introduced to Inspire2Ignite, a Cambridgeshire-based youth organisation supporting young people outside formal education or employment. Through its employability programme, and later an internship with the organisation, Apryl rebuilt her confidence, strengthened her CV and eventually secured a full-time role at Henbrook House after applying for the vacancy on her own initiative.
During her time with Inspire2Ignite, Apryl developed practical skills in budgeting, goal setting, business planning and customer relationship management. Those skills have helped her hit the ground running at Henbrook House, where she has quickly become a valued part of the family.
Michael Zinaka, General Manager at Henbrook House, comments:
“Apryl has been a fantastic addition to the team who has really hit the ground running with residents, staff and families. Too often, talented young people like Apryl fall through the cracks because no one is willing to give them the chance they need to prove themselves. What Apryl’s story shows is that when someone is given the right support in the right environment, they can blow you away with what they can achieve.”
Apryl’s story speaks to a much larger trend in the UK, where youth inactivity has risen steadily in recent years. According to the Office for National Statistics, between January and March 2026 there were over 1m young people aged between 16 to 24 who were not in education, employment or training – equivalent to 13.5% of all young people in that age group.
The issue is being felt especially sharply across closer to home, with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority estimating that 14.2% of 16 to 24-year-olds across the region currently fall into the ‘NEET’ category. For context, this equates to more than 15,000 young people who have disengaged from the workforce and formal education entirely.
For Inspire2Ignite, the key to tackling this problem is practical, early interventions in young people’s lives which help them develop the skills and contacts they need to thrive. Since launching, the organisation has supported more than 15,000 young people across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough through entrepreneurial programmes, industry projects, internships and volunteering opportunities with local employers like Henbrook House.
Reflecting on her own path to success, Apryl says the kind of hands-on support she received made all the difference. Asked about what she would say to other young people who may feel stuck or unsure what to do, she said:
“It’s okay to feel stuck. A lot of people go through periods where they don’t know what comes next, and that doesn’t mean they won’t be successful. Traditional education isn’t the right path for everyone, and that’s completely okay. There are many different ways to achieve your goals and build a successful future. Don’t be afraid to take a different route if it’s the one that’s right for you. Most importantly, don’t give up on yourself. Keep looking for opportunities, ask for help when you need it, and remember that one chance can completely change your future.”
Sam Squire, CEO at Inspire2Ignite and a former NEET himself, shares his thoughts:
“Apryl’s story is a moving example of what can happen when young people receive the support they need before becoming stuck outside education or work long-term. Too often, the problem is not a lack of talent or ambition – it is that young people lack the confidence, clear routes forward, and opportunities to develop the skills they need to thrive. Our goal is to help reduce youth inactivity in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough from 14.2% to around 3% by 2030, matching the low levels seen in places like the Netherlands. We know this is ambitious, but Apryl’s journey shows that when young people are given practical support and a real opportunity, they can surpass every expectation."
Henbrook House has developed a close working relationship with Inspire2Ignite, supporting the organisation through local activities, events and community projects. Young people from Inspire2Ignite regularly visit the home as part of entrepreneurial and employability programmes, helping bring residents, families, staff and local young people together.
For Henbrook House, the collaboration reflects its wider commitment to being an active part of the St Neots community. By opening its doors to local young people and giving talented individuals like Apryl the chance to thrive, the home hopes to play a small but meaningful role in tackling youth inactivity across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.