The Challenge
Cornwallis Care Services, a leading provider of care in Cornwall, faced significant challenges in delivering consistent and high-quality meals across its 10 residential and nursing homes. With over 350 residents to care for, ensuring balanced nutrition and catering to specific dietary needs, such as preparing IDDSI-compliant meals, proved difficult. These meals were time-consuming to prepare and often lacked visual appeal, impacting residents' dignity and mealtime enjoyment.
The Solution
To address these challenges, Cornwallis Care Services partnered with apetito, a leading meals provider known for high-quality, consistent, and nutritious meals. Nicola Hemsley, Operations Director at Cornwallis, emphasized that apetito's values aligned with Cornwallis' mission. 'apetito’s values were pivotal in the decision to bring the company on board. Mealtimes are such a crucial part of each day in a care home and ensuring that the dining environment is a social event so residents truly want to come out of their rooms and socialize, is really important to us.' With apetito, Cornwallis ensured consistency in meal quality across all homes and worked with nutrition experts to serve food that meets residents' dietary and nutritional needs. The transition was smooth, supported by apetito’s team, who provided hands-on assistance and additional training to the care teams.
The Results
After implementing apetito's services, Cornwallis Care Services saw immediate improvements in meal quality and consistency. 'With apetito, not only have we been able to ensure that there is consistency across all our homes when it comes to mealtimes but we’re able to work with experts in the field to ensure we’re serving food that has the right levels of nutrients and vitamins. We are passionate about serving food that delivers enjoyment at mealtimes as well as the right nutrition for each resident,' said Nicola Hemsley. The collaboration also led to cost savings and easier recruitment due to the reduced need for highly trained chefs. 'Knowing that apetito’s dishes are developed by its in-house award-winning Chefs, Nutritionists, and Dietitians to not only look and taste fantastic but meet the dietary and nutritional needs, gives us and our residents’ families real peace of mind.' Additionally, the use of texture-modified meals enhanced the dignity and enjoyment of residents with specific needs. 'Take texture-modified meals, before partnering with apetito, it was time-consuming to produce meals that were a safe texture, and they never looked particularly appetizing for residents. Now, we can provide IDDSI meals which are safe and visually appealing. Importantly, using texture-modified specially molded meals means that our residents can dine in dignity, something which is enormously important to them and their families.' Overall, the partnership empowered Cornwallis to maintain its commitment to quality care and improve residents' mealtime experiences while navigating financial and staffing challenges.
