Dietitians Australia would like to thank the Community Affairs References Committee for the opportunity to provide a response to the Support at Home (SaH) Program inquiry and requests the opportunity to give evidence at one of the committee’s remaining public hearings.
Dietitians Australia advocates for improved access to Accredited Practising Dietitians (APDs) to receive high quality nutrition and dietetic care, and improved food and nutrition to meet the needs of older Australians.

APDs play a vital role in supporting the food and nutrition needs of older people across the continuum of aged care, including those living in the community to stay at home for longer, those in hospital seeking restorative care and reablement to transition back to independent living, as well as older people transitioning into residential aged care facilities or palliative care.

Significant achievements to date include presenting evidence before the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee at a hearing on the Aged Care Bill 2024.

Dietitians Australia advocated for and welcomed the strengthening of the new Aged Care Act 2024 and Aged Care Quality Standards, and in particular the introduction of Standard 6: Food and nutrition for residential aged care. This has enabled APDs to work more closely with residential aged care facilities, food service staff and residents to improve the quality of menus and enhance the dining experience shown to improve nutrition-related clinical indicators including malnutrition, unintentional loss of weight and lean muscle mass, risk of falls and pressure injuries.

To learn more, please download our full submission.