Rest home food graduates among first in country

Catering staff at New Plymouth’s Radius Heatherlea and Thornleigh Park rest homes are among the first in the country to graduate from the highly esteemed NZQA recognized Food Services Residential programme aimed at setting a new standard in rest home food service.

Five local graduates recently completed the programme that focuses on delivering tastefully presented delicious and nutritious meals as well as enhanced food safety practices within rest homes. They are just a handful of 12 graduates nationwide who have so far completed the specialized 20 hour in-house training course.

“The course is the first of its kind to be initiated in the aged care sector, and Radius is leading the charge and amongst the first of residential care organisations who have completed the programme”, says Steve Hanrahan, Chief Executive of the Hospitality Standards Institute (HSI).

The two New Plymouth rest homes are part of the nationwide network of Radius rest home and hospitals that care for the elderly and disabled. The company has initiated a nationwide roll out of the programme for all Radius catering staff to complete before the end of the year.

“New Zealand’s Health and Disability Sector Standard already sets a high standard for the production of safe and nutritious meals. But Radius is keen to develop this further and create a real understanding amongst catering personnel so they become passionate about delivering a product with creativity that pleases not just the pallate but also the eye,” says Brien Cree, CEO of Radius Residential Care.

Brien also acknowledges that meal times in aged care facilities are a major focal point amongst residents and something they look forward to each day.

“Radius recognizes that food quality, service and presentation are becoming more and more important with the growth and demands in our industry. The Food Services Residential course addresses the specific needs within rest homes and we feel it is important to continually upskill our staff to be able to deliver more choice and well presented meals to our residents”.

“The aged care industry accounts for a very large section of the hospitality industry and Radius is proud to be paving the way and setting the benchmark with this new training programme”, says Brien.