Record Numbers of Care Services Achieve DSPT Compliance in 2026
Record numbers of care services now have the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) in place, as using the toolkit becomes standard practice, supporting data and cyber security across adult social care.
By the 30 June 2026 deadline, almost 76.5% of CQC-registered adult social care services across England had an up-to-date DSPT in place.
In total, 22,429 services are now DSPT-compliant, including 12,887 care homes and 9,562 home care services.
That is an increase of 600 services since June 2025 – and a massive jump from just 15% back in 2021.
Almost 14,500 of those published have used the DSPT for at least three years in a row.
Commenting on the figures, Better Security, Better Care Programme Director, Michelle Corrigan, said:
“It is brilliant to see record numbers of care services with the DSPT in place – and we are particularly pleased to see that almost 14,500 services have published their DSPT for at least three years in a row.
“This tells us that the toolkit is now embedded in many providers’ regular processes for checking their data protection and cyber security arrangements.
“The consistency is just as important as the overall numbers. When providers republish year after year, it shows that they are reviewing what they do, keeping their arrangements up to date and building trust with the people they support, their families, staff and partners.”
Care services that started their DSPT but did not manage to complete it by 30 June are encouraged to keep going. Digital Care Hub is holding a webinar specifically for services who have almost completed their DSPT. Book for 7 July webinar.
From DSPT compliance to implementation
Publishing the DSPT is an important milestone. The next priority is making sure the commitments made through the toolkit are reflected in day-to-day working, from staff training and policies to safer information sharing with health and care partners.
Michelle Corrigan, said:
“The next step is helping services turn their DSPT commitments into everyday practice. We are supporting that too. Following a successful pilot, we are rolling out free Digital Health Checks through our Local Support Organisations to help providers understand what is working well, where there may be gaps, and what practical steps they can take next.”
CQC support for the DSPT
The Care Quality Commission, strongly recommends that providers have the DSPT in place. Chris Badger, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care told Digital Care Hub:
“CQC supports the move towards greater digitisation and integration in health and social care. Sharing and storing information safely remains a top priority and good data governance underpins safe, effective, and person-centred care.
“We strongly recommend that all care providers use the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to improve how they manage personal data. It offers clear evidence of good practice. Providers should also use the free expert support from the Digital Care Hub to help embed strong data protection into daily care.”
Links
Find out more and request a Digital Health Check
Evolve Care Academy: Changing the Moment to Create Connection
Every person receiving care, whether in a care setting or at home, brings with them their own life experiences, personality, preferences and ways of communicating. Because of this, building meaningful connections is not always straightforward and often requires patience, understanding and a willingness to see the world through their eyes.
Some people may be navigating a cognitive journey that affects how they process information, communicate or make sense of their surroundings. Others may be living with a Dementia, which can influence how they experience the world around them. Some people may express distress or communicate their needs in ways that are less easily understood, while others may value their independence and need time to develop trust and feel comfortable accepting support.
Whatever their circumstances, taking the time to understand the individual behind the diagnosis, behaviour, or care need, is often the foundation for building genuine relationships and providing meaningful support.
Throughout the year, people working across the Evolve homes in Devon, Wales and Somerset, alongside those working within our Central Support office, take part in training days at the Evolve Care Academy in Bristol. The thinking behind this is simple; regardless of role, everyone should understand the people living within our homes, their life experiences, preferences and the approaches used to support them.
Whether someone works in care, catering, housekeeping, maintenance, administration, or anything in between, they are still part of the environment that family members call home. By developing this understanding, people across every department can better appreciate the impact they have on daily life within the home and the part they play in supporting those who live there.
A Communications Perspective: What Training Taught Me About Care
Having worked within the communications team for almost a year now, I regularly visit our homes and spend time with family members and those supporting them. As someone with no previous experience working in social care, I initially felt out of my depth when I entered the sector. But I was amazed by how much I had learned about Dementia care and care more broadly in just a few short months.
Attending training gives me valuable context when listening to family member and team member stories and sharing them with others. What I find particularly valuable is hearing directly from those attending the training. The discussions often draw on real experiences from the homes, providing an insight into the situations people encounter, the decisions they make and the thinking behind them. It helps bring the training to life in a way that reading or e-learning never could.
What Makes a Person Feel Safe?
The most recent training sessions held in the training room, Seen, Heard, Valued, were designed to explore why creating connections with the people who live with us is so important, and how this helps those living with us to feel safe.
As we entered the training room, the ceiling was covered in a jumble of different items. There were uniforms from a range of occupations, including a nurse’s uniform, police uniform, high-vis jackets and hard hats. Foam football hands hung alongside Christmas decorations, while flags from more countries around the world lined the edge of the room. Together, these objects represented the many things that can make up a person’s identity; where they come from, their culture, the work they once did and the life they have lived.
As the session began, we discussed Thomas Kitwood’s philosophy and why attachment, inclusion, occupation, identity, comfort and love are so important, particularly for people living with a Dementia.
Eve Carder, Clinical Lead at Evolve, explained, ‘Our job is to keep people safe. It is as simple as that. What’s more complex is what a person needs in order to feel safe.’
What I understood from this was that it is not enough for people living in our homes to simply be physically safe. They also need to feel emotionally and mentally safe within the environment around them and the people supporting them each day.
There were discussions around why someone living in our homes may not always feel seen, heard or valued, and how a lack of meaningful connection and understanding can leave a person feeling overlooked or alone. It was explained that if our teams are unable to truly connect with the people living in our care, it becomes far more difficult to understand what they need.
The Big Question
On the tables in the training room were a number of headbands with large question marks attached. We were encouraged to put them on and consider what they might represent. To me, they symbolised the idea that a person is only an ‘unknown’ until we take the time to ask the right questions and truly get to know them; they are, essentially, a big ‘question mark’ until we peel back the layers.
As I am still learning what it means for someone to be living with a Dementia, or on a cognitive journey, I had not considered that some people living in our care may not be able to tell us about themselves or their life history, and may also have no loved ones around them who are able to fill in those gaps for us.
Eve explained that, for some people, being asked multiple direct questions can leave them feeling confused or overwhelmed, causing them to shut down and struggle to respond.
We were also shown brain scans of people living with a Dementia, illustrating how brain cells shrink and die as the disease progresses, leaving parts of the brain darkened and permanently damaged. It was explained how this loss of brain function can affect cognition, including a person’s ability to problem solve, regulate emotions, communicate and make decisions.
What the question mark headbands actually represented was the experience of people living with a Dementia or cognitive condition that affects their ability to answer questions or express themselves in the way they once could, because parts of the brain are no longer functioning properly.
I found myself imagining what it might feel like to be asked multiple questions while being unable to connect memories, thoughts or experiences together clearly in my mind, and realised how confusing and frustrating that experience must be.
Because direct questioning may not always be the most effective way to connect with or understand our family members, a number of exercises had been designed to help team members adapt their approaches in more complex situations. The aim was to give people the confidence and tools to think creatively, work outside the box and find ways to ‘change the moment’ in order to create meaningful connection.
Image Association
The first exercise involved each table receiving a set of Q-cards, with every person given a card displaying a random image of a person, place or object. We were then asked to use the images to build a story together, connecting each card to the next as the conversation moved around the table.
For example, one of the cards showed people running a marathon, so I explained that from a young age I had always wanted to run long distance but had been held back by shin splints (which was actually true!) The next person’s card showed people dressed in military uniforms, so they continued the story by saying that, once they’d given up the dream of being a marathon runner, they had joined the army because they still wanted an active lifestyle, and the story carried on from there.
The purpose of the exercise was to respond to the previous person’s story and relate it to your own, using the images as inspiration while keeping the conversation connected. In practice, this could look like listening to a family member sharing memories or experiences and finding ways to relate to what they are saying, helping to create opportunities for further conversation, connection and trust.
A Bag of Stuff
In another exercise, bags containing five random objects were placed on each table. We were invited to take out one item at a time and create a story inspired by it with the rest of the group.
The exercise encouraged storytelling as a way of connecting with others, using everyday objects as a starting point for conversation. The stories could be personal memories, stories heard from others or completely imagined. What mattered most was the act of sharing and creating something engaging together.
Something as simple as picking up a beach towel and talking about a sunny holiday in Spain may encourage someone else to begin speaking about their own experiences of travelling, holidays or time spent with loved ones, bringing familiarity, comfort and positive emotions into the conversation.
These exercises really brought home to me how caring roles can give people the opportunity to use creativity in meaningful ways to build trust and connection. Alongside exploring ways to create connection, we also discussed the things that can cause people to disconnect or feel controlled rather than supported.
Dementia Language
In one corner of the room stood a series of mock walls spray painted with phrases such as ‘no’, ‘don’t do that’ and ‘not now’. We discussed how language like this can feel restrictive and, over time, may contribute to a person feeling a loss of independence, choice and autonomy. It was explained that, in some situations, constantly feeling controlled rather than supported can lead to distress and expressive behaviour.
Even when these things are said with the intention of keeping someone safe, they can still leave a person feeling emotionally unsafe by creating a sense of lost control. We explored how words, tone, touch, presence and attention can all shape the way a person experiences the world around them and how, when used negatively or without thought, they may leave a lasting emotional impact.
We explored how these same things can also be used positively to create an emotional shift and help someone feel reassured, calm and connected. This may be through using the right words in a gentle or friendly tone, meeting someone where they are in their journey and using language that makes sense to them. It may also be through touch, such as holding a person’s hand to show you are there with them rather than trying to direct or control them, or by lowering yourself to their level and creating a sense of reassurance and presence. Attention was also discussed in terms of truly getting to know the person and not losing sight of the identity behind the diagnosis.
Our care teams have the ability to influence the tone and energy of the day. While they may not always be able to control how someone presents in that moment, they can control their own response and the way they approach challenging situations.
Alongside the care provided by our teams, environment also plays a significant role in helping family members feel at home, comfortable and safe within the spaces around them.
The Importance of Environment
As a last exercise in the training, we were asked to explore an area of the training room where a number of simulated environments had been built. Bedrooms, living rooms and dining rooms were set up as examples of inviting and colourful environments that encouraged stimulation, alongside environments which felt uninviting, dull or institutional, to show the impact and importance of creating spaces that feel positive, homely, engaging and personal.
I recalled a similar exercise from the first training session I attended at the beginning of my role and found it fascinating that dining tables within the homes may have miscellaneous objects placed on them, such as puzzles, colouring books or memory cards, to encourage family members to interact with them and create opportunities for conversation and engagement.
These are tables set for more than just a meal. A soft toy, or a newspaper become something to pick up or look at while sitting down to eat. For those who take a little longer, or don’t always feel like eating, having something nearby to focus on and engage with can make all the difference.
And for people living with a Dementia or are on a cognitive journey, they may not always have the words, or no longer able to process and express the desire, to engage with an activity or task, but when they come across something in front of them, it may naturally spark curiosity, familiarity or engagement.
As someone who initially saw these dining tables as cluttered with objects unrelated to mealtimes, the way I now understand the dining experience has changed dramatically. It is not simply about eating a meal, but about creating opportunities for comfort, connection and engagement, just as all environments throughout the home should aim to do.
Speaking about the importance of creating a true sense of home, Eve shared, ‘We are not creating institutions, we are creating homes, places of safety, of creativity and hopefully magic.’
What I Took Away
I know there will always be more for me to learn about care and Dementia care. Leaders like Eve Carder and the wider clinical team have so much expertise and decades of experience that I cannot hope to gain just by attending a few training sessions.
What I have learned so far, however, has left me genuinely moved and inspired. The idea that, no matter where someone is on their cognitive or Dementia journey, there are still ways to connect with them; the challenge is simply finding out how to reach them.
To read more about training, learning and development provided by Evolve Care Group in their Evolve Care Academy, visit https://www.evolvecareacademy.com/
By Ayla Melville, Marketing and Communications Assistant at Evolve Care Group
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.
Dedicated Luxury Care Apartments Launched to Halt ‘Forced Separation’ of Couples in Care
Family care provider Ardale has announced the launch of The Ashridge Apartments at Welwyn Grange, a collection of purpose-designed care suites created to support couples who wish to continue living together while receiving personalised care.
Comprising 13 penthouse-style care suites, the apartments provide couples with the opportunity to maintain shared routines and enjoy greater privacy and independence, while benefiting from access to tailored care and nursing support as their individual needs evolve.
The launch reflects the challenges many couples face when one partner's care needs become more complex. Differences in health needs, such as when one partner develops dementia while the other requires minimal support, can make finding suitable accommodation difficult. The Ashridge Apartments have been designed to provide an option for couples who want to remain together while each receiving the level of support they need.
A Home Designed for Couples
Located on the top floor of Welwyn Grange, The Ashridge Apartments combine independent living with access to 24/7 nurse-led care. Residents have their own private accommodation while remaining connected to the wider care community and professional support whenever required.
Key Features of The Ashridge Apartments
- Private apartment layouts: Each penthouse-style suite includes a separate bedroom, private lounge, kitchenette, and most feature a private balcony.
- 24/7 clinical support: Residents have access to an on-site nursing and care team, with support tailored to each person's individual needs.
- Shared amenities: Couples can enjoy Welwyn Grange's facilities, including a cinema room, hair and beauty salon, bar/café, interactive digital touch table and landscaped courtyard garden.
- All-inclusive fees: A single monthly fee covers care, meals, laundry, utilities and security.
"For many couples, moving into care can bring understandable concerns about whether they will be able to continue living together as their needs change.
"The Ashridge Apartments have been designed to offer couples a home where they can continue sharing everyday life while receiving flexible care that can adapt to each person's individual requirements.
"By bringing together private living space with access to round-the-clock support, we hope to provide reassurance for couples and their families as care needs evolve."
Robert Myers, Head of Care Pathways at Welwyn Grange
Jayne Connery, Founder of Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, welcomed the initiative, saying:
"I have visited Ardale care homes many times over the years through my work with Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, and I have always been impressed by their commitment to transparency, safety, dignity and truly person-centred care.
"The new Ashridge Apartments at Welwyn Grange are a wonderful example of thinking differently about later life. Too many older couples face the heartbreaking prospect of being separated when one partner's care needs become more complex, particularly following a dementia diagnosis or the need for nursing care.
"It is encouraging to see the Ashridge Apartments offering couples the opportunity to remain together while receiving the care and support they each need, with privacy, independence and 24-hour nursing available whenever required.
"At Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, we believe safety, dignity and quality care must always go hand in hand with compassion. Love, familiarity, routine and the comfort of remaining together are just as important to wellbeing."
The Ashridge Apartments are now open for viewings and immediate occupancy. Couples, families and healthcare professionals interested in learning more can explore the apartment layouts and arrange a viewing via Welwyn Grange.
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 the Menu: Why Culturally Inclusive Catering is Essential for Person-Centred Care
Food in care homes is often seen in terms of nutrition, safety and compliance. For residents, however, it also represents identity, culture and comfort. As the UK’s care population becomes more diverse, providers must move beyond standard menus. For Caryn Straker, in- house Dietitian at Nightingale Hammerson, this is essential to delivering truly person-centred care.
More than nutrition
“In a care home environment, we often see increasing barriers to eating and drinking,” Straker explains. “As people become frailer or live with cognitive decline, familiar foods become even more important.”
When meals feel unfamiliar or do not align with cultural or religious expectations, residents are less likely to engage. This can quickly lead to reduced intake, increasing the risk of malnutrition, dehydration and declining wellbeing.
“Eating and drinking are absolutely essential to someone’s health, but also their enjoyment of life,” she says. “If the food doesn’t feel right to them, you’re creating an unnecessary barrier.”
This is where culturally appropriate catering becomes a core clinical consideration, not simply a lifestyle preference.
From compliance to integration
A common issue in care catering is neglecting religious or cultural diets, which are often treated as an afterthought. Menus are typically created first, with dietary alternatives like vegetarian, halal, or simplified options added later. Although well-meaning, this method can restrict choices and reduce both quality and nutritional balance.
"These diets should be planned as an integral part of the menu,” says Straker. “They need to provide the same variety and nutritional standards as any other meal."
Residents on halal, kosher, vegetarian, or vegan diets should not feel limited or marginalized by inadequate options. "You should not have a situation where someone always chooses the same fallback because no other options are considered for them." Incorporating inclusive catering into the main menu design helps make it a routine part of daily practice, not just an exception.
Managing complexity in diverse homes
While some providers, such as Nightingale Hammerson, operate within a specific dietary framework, many care homes must manage a wider range of needs. "It can be quite challenging to accommodate various cultural and religious requirements," explains Straker. "Some residents need halal meals, others require kosher options, and there are vegetarian or vegan diets, along with individuals avoiding certain foods for other reasons."
There’s also room for innovation. Kitchens can develop menus that are more inclusive by default, reducing the need for multiple modifications.
Balancing authenticity, nutrition and safety
Providing culturally appropriate meals requires careful balancing. Authenticity matters, but so do clinical nutrition and food safety. "At the end of the day, care homes must ensure their meals are nutritionally balanced and suitable for residents," says Straker.
This is especially important in care settings where residents may be frail, at risk of malnutrition, or managing complex health issues. At the same time, operational factors such as staffing, budgets, and kitchen capacity must be taken into account. Without proper planning, these competing priorities can pose challenges. "If you don’t plan ahead, problems will arise," she explains. "Waiting until the morning to realize you need multiple alternative or texture-modified meals that weren't planned for is too late."
Proactive menu planning helps providers balance authenticity with safety and efficiency, rather than viewing them as conflicting goals.
Cross-contamination and clarity
Concerns about cross-contamination often act as a barrier to providing inclusive catering, especially for halal and kosher diets. Nonetheless, Straker emphasises that many of the needed principles are already part of standard professional kitchen practices. “Care home kitchens are already familiar with managing food allergies and intolerances, which involve similar controls,” she notes. “These same principles can be adapted to accommodate religious dietary needs.”
Measures like using separate equipment, designated prep areas, and clear handling procedures can effectively mitigate risks. In specialised settings, such as kosher kitchens, this is essential.
However, issues tend to stem from misunderstandings rather than system deficiencies. “A major challenge is distinguishing between actual requirements and personal preferences,” says Straker. Without proper communication, kitchens may unnecessarily restrict menus or implement controls that limit residents' options. “It’s about precisely understanding individual needs and conveying that clearly to the team.”
Training, communication and consistency
Inclusive catering involves more than just kitchen processes; it depends on consistent understanding among the entire care team. "Communication is absolutely key,” emphasises Straker. “Everyone involved must understand each resident’s requirements." This includes recognising that dietary labels are not always clear-cut.
For instance, the meaning of “vegetarian” can differ greatly among individuals. "It’s important to ask questions and clarify details,” she notes. "Assumptions can lead to errors if not checked." Training is also essential, especially in facilities lacking access to catering and dietetic expertise.. Although guidance and resources are increasingly available, variability still exists across the sector.
Ethical considerations and resident choice
Culturally sensitive catering also raises ethical issues, especially when residents experience cognitive decline.
“There are cases where someone who has been vegetarian all their life may no longer remember that,” explains Straker. “They might pick foods that contradict their previous beliefs.” In such situations, care teams must carefully weigh respecting the person’s past identity against their current autonomy, involving families in decision-making.
“Some families say, ‘let them choose,’ while others believe their lifelong beliefs should be maintained.” This can be a tricky situation to manage as caterers and care teams and underscores the importance of truly person-centred care, where there is rarely a ‘right’ answer.
A marker of quality care
As care homes serve increasingly diverse populations, inclusive catering becomes a key indicator of quality. “This isn’t something that can be treated as an afterthought,” she emphasises. “It needs to be integrated into our approach to care from the very start.” Ultimately, food is more than nutrition; it reflects dignity, identity, and understanding, core elements of outstanding care.
The Hidden Cybersecurity Risks of Unmanaged Devices in Care Homes
As care homes digitise, managers and nurses are increasingly serving as unofficial IT support, spending valuable time troubleshooting unmanaged devices rather than focusing on residents. Drawing on experience managing over 50,000 devices across 250+ care providers, Jamie Lee from Subsidium explores how these “invisible” responsibilities create serious cybersecurity risks and why, without proper device management, care data is left dangerously exposed.
Why is the Care Sector Targeted?
Cybercriminals follow the data. Care homes hold incredibly sensitive information: personal identities, medical histories, and financial records. Hackers know the sector is undergoing rapid digital transformation and that it often lacks dedicated in-house IT security teams. They rarely target sophisticated infrastructure; instead, they send fake links, counting on a tired carer using an unmanaged device to accidentally grant access. This vulnerability makes care providers lucrative targets for ransomware and extortion.
The Most Common Threats on the Floor
While ransomware makes headlines, the daily dangers are operational:
- The Lost Device: An unmanaged tablet left in a public area or resident's room is an instant, reportable GDPR breach.
- The Shared Passcode: Devices are compromised or locked because passwords are written on sticky notes.
- Shadow IT: Staff downloading unapproved apps or browsing the web, introducing malware into your network.
Where Care Providers Go Wrong
The biggest mistake is deploying unmanaged hardware. Providers buy consumer tablets from retail stores and hand them to staff without realising the danger. Without Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), there is no audit trail, no central control, and no guarantee that vital security patches are installed. You are effectively relying on busy care staff to be your frontline cybersecurity defence.
Fast, Effective Wins
Security must be automatic. If it slows staff down, they will bypass it, which is exactly how breaches happen. The fastest wins come from locking down hardware:
- Deploy EMM: Gain instant, central visibility over your entire fleet.
- Use Kiosk Mode: Lock devices to essential care apps. Block social media, browsers, and settings changes.
- Automate Updates: Push security patches and software updates to devices, ensuring they remain compliant.
The Connected Future
Care is moving toward a fully integrated model that links homes directly to the NHS, GPs, pharmacies, and AI-enabled monitoring sensors. Mobile devices are transitioning from simple gadgets into critical clinical infrastructure. If your foundation is built on unsecured hardware, you will hit a tech ceiling where security risks prevent you from adopting future life-saving tools.
Trust the Experts
Subsidium provides this governance automatically. From zero-touch deployment to remote wiping and device monitoring, we handle the device lifecycle behind the scenes. We remove technical complexity, ensuring your infrastructure is secure, compliant, and future-proof.
Stop risking your data. Focus on your residents, and we will secure the rest.
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 difference between delivering care and delivering a good lived experience
There is a dangerous comfort in believing that care has been delivered simply because a task has been completed. Medication administered. Personal care provided. Meal served. Fluid chart updated. Care plan reviewed. Family contacted. Risk assessment filed.
All of these things matter. In regulated care, they matter profoundly. They protect life, evidence accountability and create the basic architecture of safe provision. But they are not, by themselves, the same as a good lived experience. Care is what we provide. Lived experience is what the person actually receives, feels, remembers and carries. That distinction may appear subtle, but in practice it is the line between a service that is merely operational and a service that is genuinely humane. It is also the line between compliance as a defensive activity and quality as a living culture.
Across adult social care, we have become skilled at documenting inputs. We can evidence rotas, audits, supervisions, incident reviews and policy updates. Yet the most important question is often the one least easily captured in a spreadsheet: what does it feel like to live here, to be supported here, to lose independence here, to depend on strangers here, to age here, to recover here, or to spend one’s final chapter here? That is the question that separates delivering care from delivering a good lived experience.
Care Is Not Enough If It Does Not Preserve Personhood
Good care begins with safety, but it cannot end there. A person can be safe and still feel invisible. A person can be clean, fed and medicated, yet still feel lonely, patronised or managed rather than known. A person can have every clinical need recorded and still experience a daily erosion of identity. The purpose of care is not simply to maintain the body. It is to uphold the person.
In my own work across staffing, homecare, supported living, complex care and social care innovation, I have learnt that the best services are not defined by how efficiently they complete tasks. They are defined by how intentionally they protect dignity, autonomy, belonging and meaning. A good lived experience asks different questions.
Not only: “Has Mrs Patel eaten?”
But: “Was the meal familiar, culturally meaningful, offered with patience, and served in a way that respected her preferences?”
Not only: “Has Mr Thompson been supported to wash?”
But: “Was he rushed, exposed, embarrassed, or spoken to as though he was a task?”
Not only: “Has the activity timetable been followed?”
But: “Did anyone notice that he used to be a mechanic, that she misses church, that another resident lights up when Nigerian gospel music plays, or that someone who never joins group activities may still crave one-to-one conversation?”
Care completes the intervention. Lived experience honours the human being inside the intervention.
The Regulatory Direction Is Already Clear
The sector should not treat lived experience as a soft aspiration. It is now central to what quality means. The Care Quality Commission’s current assessment approach is built around whether services are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. Its quality statements expect providers to demonstrate person-centred, dignified, responsive care that is shaped by what matters to people, not merely by what is convenient for systems. This is important because lived experience is not an optional extra added after compliance. It is the evidence that compliance has reached the person.
Regulation 9 on person-centred care requires care and treatment to meet needs and reflect preferences. Regulation 10 on dignity and respect requires people to be treated with dignity at all times. These are not decorative standards. They are operational, cultural and moral requirements.
The weakness in many services is not that leaders do not know the regulations. It is that they translate them too narrowly. They mistake “person-centred care” for having a completed care plan with preferences listed inside it. But a preference written down and then ignored is not person-centred care. A “This Is Me” document buried in a file is not lived experience. A keyworker system that does not produce emotional continuity is only a structure, not a relationship. A good lived experience happens when documented knowledge becomes daily behaviour.
The Human Difference Is Often Found in Micro-Moments
The difference between care and lived experience is rarely found in grand gestures. It is found in micro-moments repeated consistently.
It is in knocking before entering, even when someone may not respond.
It is in explaining what is happening before touching someone’s body.
It is in knowing that a resident prefers tea strong, not because it is written in the care plan, but because someone cared enough to remember.
It is in noticing when a person’s silence is not contentment but withdrawal.
It is in supporting someone to choose their own clothing, even when it takes longer.
It is in refusing to speak over a person in front of professionals.
It is in understanding that “challenging behaviour” may be grief, trauma, fear, sensory overload, pain or the final remaining form of control.
These moments do not always require more money. They require leadership, training, emotional intelligence and moral discipline.
A rushed culture produces rushed care. A fearful culture produces defensive documentation. A task-led culture produces institutional habits, even in beautiful buildings. A loving, well-led and accountable culture produces something different: an environment where people are not simply kept alive, but enabled to feel that their life still belongs to them.
Workforce Experience Shapes Resident Experience
We cannot discuss lived experience honestly without discussing the workforce.
A depleted, undertrained, unsupported workforce cannot consistently deliver emotionally intelligent care. Staff who feel unseen often struggle to see others fully. Staff who are treated as replaceable labour may begin, unconsciously, to deliver replaceable interactions. This is not an excuse for poor practice. It is a leadership warning.
If providers want better lived experience for residents, they must design better working conditions for staff: proper induction, reflective supervision, trauma-informed training, cultural competence, safe staffing, clear escalation pathways and managers who do not only audit paperwork but observe relational practice.
The care worker is often the person who creates the lived experience hour by hour. Yet too often, the sector underestimates the intellectual and emotional complexity of the role. Supporting someone with dementia, autism, mental health needs, acquired disability, frailty or end-of-life anxiety requires far more than kindness. It requires judgement, restraint, patience, communication skill and the ability to interpret human distress without reducing it to inconvenience. If we want staff to deliver good lived experience, we must equip them to understand the person beyond the presentation.
Culture Must Be Designed, Not Assumed
Many care organisations say they are caring. Fewer can prove how that care is embedded. Culture is not what is written on the wall. It is what happens when no senior manager is watching. A good lived experience requires leaders to design culture deliberately. That means asking uncomfortable questions:
- Do our rotas allow time for relationship, or only task completion?
- Do our audits measure dignity, choice and emotional wellbeing, or only documentation?
- Do complaints lead to learning, or defensiveness?
- Do families feel respected as partners, or tolerated as interruptions?
- Do residents influence decisions, or are they merely consulted after decisions have already been made?
- Do we understand cultural identity, faith, language, food, hair, skin, disability and family structure as core to wellbeing, or as “additional preferences”?
- Do we treat people’s rooms as their homes, or as workplaces we control?
If the answer is weak, the service may be delivering care, but it is not yet delivering a good lived experience.
Technology Should Support Humanity, Not Replace It
Digital systems, when well designed, can strengthen care. They can improve continuity, reduce missed information, identify patterns and support governance. I believe deeply in the role of care technology because I have seen the consequences of fragmented systems. But technology must never become a substitute for presence.
A digital care record can tell us that someone refused breakfast. It cannot, by itself, tell us whether they felt depressed, unheard, nauseous, frightened, embarrassed, or simply tired of being offered food they do not enjoy. That requires human curiosity.
The future of care should not be technology versus compassion. It should be technology in service of compassion. The best systems should free staff to know people better, respond faster, evidence more intelligently and prevent people from becoming lost inside institutional routines. Technology should help us ask better human questions.
Lived Experience Is a Leadership Standard
Ultimately, the quality of lived experience in a care setting is a leadership outcome.
Leaders set the tone for whether people are seen as individuals or packages of need. Leaders decide whether dignity is audited seriously. Leaders determine whether staff are trained merely to comply or developed to think. Leaders choose whether the organisation listens to people with humility or protects itself with polished language.
In care, leadership is not proved in board papers alone. It is proved in the dining room, the night shift, the medication round, the handover, the family meeting, the safeguarding response and the way a resident is spoken to when they are distressed, repetitive, resistant or afraid.
The highest standard is not perfection. Care is complex, and human services will always face pressure. The standard is whether the provider is awake, honest, reflective and relentless in improving the person’s actual experience.
From Service Delivery to Life Delivery
The future of social care must move beyond the narrow language of provision. We are not simply delivering care packages. We are entering people’s homes, bedrooms, routines, histories, griefs, identities and futures. That demands reverence.
A good lived experience is created when people feel safe without feeling controlled, supported without feeling diminished, known without feeling exposed, and cared for without feeling that their personhood has been swallowed by their needs. This is the work.
Not only to help someone get up, but to give them a reason to want to.
Not only to prevent harm, but to preserve hope.
Not only to meet assessed needs, but to honour the life behind those needs.
Not only to deliver care, but to deliver conditions in which a person can still experience dignity, agency, connection and joy.
The difference between care and a good lived experience is the difference between doing things to people and building life with them. The sector cannot afford to confuse the two.
About Pauline Vuyelwa Muswere-Enagbonma
Co- Founder and Group Chief Executive, Jessamy Care Ecosystem
Founder of JessamyCareOne | Master British Certified Trainer | Social Care Reformer
https://www.jessamystaffing.co.uk/
Pauline Vuyelwa Muswere-Enagbonma is the Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive of the Jessamy ecosystem, which sits within Jessamy Platinum Holdings Limited. The group includes ventures across staffing, regulated care, supported accommodation, children’s services, community transport, professional training and care technology.
Founded in 2020 from Jessamy Staffing Solutions, the ecosystem has grown into an integrated model that includes Jessamy Staffing Solutions, Jessamy Platinum Homecare, Jessamy Platinum Homes, Lumina Pathways CIC, Jessamy Transport Services and JessamyCareOne.
Pauline is a Master British Certified Trainer and CPD-accredited professional. Her work focuses on social care reform, workforce development, ethical care technology, trauma-informed care and improved life chances for children, adults and families.
Pauline’s leadership philosophy, The Discipline of Grace, reframes governance as responsibility grounded in kindness, love, care, integrity and accountability.
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)