Food in Focus: St Ann’s Residents Enjoy New Opportunity to Get Involved

Fifteen residents at St Ann’s—our home in Hobart, Tasmania—recently enjoyed taking part in a special food focus group designed to introduce Respect’s brand-new seasonal menu and provide them with an opportunity to share their first-hand feedback like never before. 

The initiative was thanks to some great collaboration between Respect’s Hotel Services team and St Ann’s social care staff. And according to Mel Beilby, Respect’s Hotel Services Manager, it represented a level of resident engagement that her team hopes to initiate across more homes in our network of aged care communities in the future. 

“We were really excited to use St Ann’s as a bit of a trial home for a session like this, and the feedback we received from residents taking part, as well as the team members involved, was really fantastic,” Mel says.

“It was initially instigated by Charmaine Carter, our General Manager at St Ann’s. Following some resident feedback, she wanted to run a bit of a session and trial some dishes. And it was perfect timing too with our new seasonal menu having been launched recently across each of our homes. 

“While in the past we have run interactive feedback sessions with residents and their families around our menus, we haven’t previously included tastings. So we saw it as a chance to showcase our new recipes and let residents try things and share ideas about what they liked. 

“The residents’ perspectives were valuable, and it even led to us changing one of the dishes for St Ann’s. Our seasonal menu can be tailored to suit each particular home, so one of the benefits of a food focus group like this is we know from the outset what may or may not work for a specific group of residents.” 

St Ann’s General Manager Charmaine Carter says the food focus group allowed residents to feel more consulted and informed about the new seasonal menu. 

“Our residents have previously said they wanted to have more input and choice in the food we serve. So we thought we’d give them an opportunity to review our new menu, and taste it, before we put it into place,” she says. 

“Their feedback was excellent. Not only was it useful from our point of view, but residents also said it was nice to have a bit of a ‘fancy afternoon’ where they could sit together and try some nice food over a drink, all while enjoying each other’s company. The social care aspect was a big one too and something they found very memorable. 

“The session also allowed us to increase resident understanding of our menus. We actually used the opportunity to demonstrate some food preparation so that residents could see what goes into making each of our meals. For example, all our food is prepared fresh and endorsed by dieticians. It’s something some residents may not have been fully across before.”