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www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au
JCPSLP
Volume 19, Number 2 2017
61
Food services meetings
As shown in Table 3, the majority of respondents (n = 71)
reported their facility or health service had regular food
services meetings which mostly occurred on a monthly
basis (49%). Figure 2 depicts which members of the team
reportedly attended these meetings, with the majority
having dietitians, food services managers and SLPs in
attendance. One quarter of respondents reported “others”
attended food services meetings; these included nutrition
assistants, chefs, food service coordinators, kitchen
manager, food service assistants and menu monitors.
Perceptions of a dedicated speech-
language pathology role in food services
A total of 77 participants responded to the open-ended
question “What are your thoughts on a dedicated Speech
Pathology role in food services?” Two major themes were
identified: (a) potential benefits of the position and (b)
service considerations of such a position. Subthemes within
each of these categories are shown in Table 4.
Perceived benefits
Nine respondents (12%) commented that a dedicated
speech pathology role within food services could have
possible benefits to patients in terms of safety and quality of
meals. For example, participant 51 noted:
position. The remaining participant reported that the role
involved one full-time grade 1 (entry level clinician) and one
part-time grade 2 clinician (> 1 year of experience, but not
senior level).
Participants 14, 71, 78, 88, 89 and 108 also answered
the question “Why was the position created?” Responses
ranged from developing and maintaining good working
relationships with food services, addressing issues
pertaining to texture-modified foods and fluids, to providing
ongoing representation at food services meetings. All
respondents (n = 6) reported that a range of duties were
undertaken within this dedicated position. These duties
included: auditing compliance of texture-modified diets with
national standards, research/quality improvement in texture-
modified diet/fluids management, resolving joint SLP and
food services issues, and creating links between food
services and SLP. In addition, one respondent described
working with food services to develop a new patient
menu. No respondents reported that their organisation
had evaluated the impact of a dedicated SLP role in food
services.
Speech-language pathologists completing
food services tasks within existing
clinical roles
A total of 85% of respondents (n = 99) answered the
question “Do any speech pathologists from your
department perform the following food services related
tasks within their existing clinical roles?” A large proportion
of these respondents (n = 88) reported that SLPs in their
department provided education and training to food
services staff and worked to resolve clinical issues related
to texture-modified diets/thickened fluids (n = 87), such as
items of inappropriate texture being provided to patients.
They also reported performing audits on texture-modified
diets (n = 71) and thickened fluids (n = 87). Of these 99
participants, almost 60% indicated someone within their
department attended food services meetings and 64% (n =
64) resolved requests from food services (e.g., issues with
texture-modified diets) at a departmental or service level,
while 65% (n = 65) indicated that they or someone within
their department provided input into development and/or
selection of new meals. Twenty-eight per cent of
respondents (n = 28) reported participating in state-wide
food services networks. Two of the 99 respondents
indicated they did not perform any of the aforementioned
duties within their department or any other food services
tasks. Figure 1 depicts how many hours per fortnight SLPs
within their departments reportedly spent on food services
tasks, with the most common response (58%) being
between 1 and 4 hours per fortnight. However, 15% of
respondents (n = 15) indicated that they or someone in
their department spent up to 32 hours per fortnight
performing these tasks.
1-4 hours,
(57), 58%
4-8 hours,
(18),18%
>32 hours,
(15),15%
0 hours, (6), 6%
8-16hours,
(3), 3%
16-32 hours,
(0), 0%
Note:
differences in sizes between departments
unknown; data may be impacted by number of staff
within a facility.
Figure 1. Hours per fortnight department spends on food-
services-related tasks within existing clinical roles
Table 3. Food services meetings
Questions
Responses
Does your health service have regular food service meetings?
Yes
71% (n = 71)
No
7% (n = 7)
Unsure
22% (n = 22)
How often do they meet?
Weekly
4% (n = 3)
Monthly
49% (n = 33)
Quarterly
18% (n = 12)
Other:
28% (n = 19)