Catering Services

Our Catering Services team aims to provide high quality, good value and responsive services. We offer a unique service encompassing good nutritional care, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), monitoring, training and guidance and intensive support. We have an extensive, specialist knowledge of the care and catering environment, including the Care Quality Commission's (CQCs) Outcome 5: Meeting Nutritional Needs.

Services available

Consultancy

Catering Services can provide consultancy on your catering provision. Consultancy may include assistance with menu planning, special diets, food fortification, staffing issues, interviewing, staff induction, monitoring, and advice on any aspect of nutritional care within a care setting.

Relief staff

Catering Services has a team of catering and housekeeping relief staff who currently cover up to 400 shifts per month in over 50 kitchens within the County Council and the private sector. 

The team includes cooks, assistant cooks, kitchen assistants and housekeeping domestics.  All team members (who have their own uniforms) hold a fully enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, have a Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) Level 2 certificate in Food Hygiene and an understanding of good nutritional care for older people.  

Our cooks are experienced in preparing meals for up to 70 residents, providing a selection of two or three main choices and have knowledge of special diets, fortification and pureed meals. Our assistant cooks and kitchen assistants are trained in supporting the kitchen team as necessary and are experienced in working in kitchens within care homes.  They are extremely aware of the extra care required during service to meet the individual needs of older people.  Our housekeepers are trained in cleaning procedures, infection control and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) and are updated annually at our Housekeeping workshop.  We can provide cover for one shift, two weeks leave or three months sickness.   The more notice you give us the better, however, in an emergency we will do what we can.  Our contract for catering relief staff (pdf, 38kb) (opens in a new window) has more details.

Training - MUST and Nutritional Care Training

We can provide a bespoke package that incorporates the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and the appropriate actions to take, including fortification. Immediately after the training you will receive the whole package and all the forms necessary to introduce the policy.  The package is based on the National Association of Care Catering guidance and, as well as MUST, covers dignity aspects and all of the person centred information that is required to be gathered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to meet their Outcome 5.

For further information on MUST and other training courses we offer, please refer to pages 38 to 40 of the Independent, Voluntary, Private and Shared Lives Brochure 2012 -2013.

• Admin. Assistant
  Name: Miss Kirsten Ritchie
  Email: k.j.ritchie@dorsetcc.gov.uk
  Tel: 01305 225934
  Fax: 01305 225994
  Full details for Miss Kirsten Ritchie