Effective from September 2026

Workflow Owner: Manager - Complex and Clinical Care

Objective

To provide Five Good Friends workers (employees, Helpers, and contractors) with a clear approach to mealtime support services and enable the provision of high-quality and safe mealtime support and safe swallowing to our Members.

Key Information

• Members who are receiving mealtime support will have access to safe, enjoyable, and nutritious meals.
• Members who have dysphagia or a swallowing risk will receive safe mealtime support from trained workers.
• Workers must report incidents that arise as part of mealtime support as per the Incident Management Workflow.

Definitions

• Dysphagia – is a medical term for any difficulty with swallowing. Dysphagia symptoms can worsen as people age. People with a disability are more likely to die from choking or respiratory illnesses or have serious health complications because of poor management of dysphagia. Therefore access to nutritious, safe, enjoyable meals is critical as safe meals minimise the risk of choking and serious health problems and improve a person’s safety and quality of life. Symptoms of dysphagia include:
  • difficulty biting or chewing on food
  • coughing or choking on food or fluid
  • food or drinking falling from a person’s mouth.
• Mealtime Support – a service provided to Members who require support with meals and nutrition, including delivered meals, meal preparation, and feeding support.

Workflow

Members

1. During the sign-up meeting or onboarding by the Welcome Team, Members who will receive mealtime and safe-swallowing support as a service delivered by FGF will be assessed using the COAST and the Eating Assessment Tool-10(as required) as per the ‣.
   • The outcomes from the care planning discussion and Eating Assessment Tool-10 will be documented in the Member’s Care Plan in the How to support me section > Meals and Mealtime Support, Nutrition and Hydration, and/or Choking and Swallowing templates.
2. If a swallowing risk is identified, the Member will be referred to their GP or an allied health professional such as a speech pathologist to assess their swallowing risk and develop a mealtime management plan. If the Member has a mealtime management plan in place, this plan will be requested for incorporation into the Care Plan.
3. If a swallowing risk is identified, the Member will be added to the Choking/Swallowing Risk cohort.
4. The Workforce Coordinator will be notified that mealtime and/or safe swallowing support will be provided as a service through the Helper Request or Change of Existing Services Tickets so it can be added to the applicable visits in the Member’s Roster.
   • If Helpers require specific training due to the Member’s swallowing risk, e.g. through the SIL staff who have been trained on the mealtime management plan or speech pathologist, this must be documented in the Matching Preferences and the Care Plan.
   • The Care Team will organise this training before the Helper can provide safe swallowing support.