The families of patients at a north nursing home have raised concerns over a proposed change to in-house home-cooked meals for residents.
Invernevis House in Fort William has always offered home cooked meals to residents from its own kitchen – but a plan to have meals brought into the home is now being considered.
The home is where local hero, William the Care Home dog lives. The pooch last year rescued a woman who had got into difficulties and had fallen down a ravine.
The meals will be provided to the NHS Highland-run home by Apetito, a company based in the south of England
NHS Highland said it already uses the same provider for food in other locations in Lochaber.
Speaking on behalf of a number of concerned family members, a spokesman said: “It seems that NHS Highland is considering moving over to a frozen meals company to provide the meals to residents in the home.
“This is a real shame, because there are wonderful cooks and kitchen staff on site who will be moved away from doing a job they love.
“And we don’t feel it is the best idea for food to travel all the way from England to the home – just because it is cheaper and our relatives are older does it mean we should give them frozen food. We want the food provided to our families to stay as it is.”
An NHS Highland spokesman said: “There is currently a proposal pending the outcome of a consultation about the possible implementation of Apetito meals into Invernevis House.
“The meals, already used by other hospitals/homes run by NHS Highland, are ready-made but of a very high standard.
“So far a taster session has been held for residents where all meals were plated up for them as usual. These were very well received.”
Invernevis House manager, Claire Cameron, has now contacted residents’ family members and invited them to ‘tasting sessions’ on August 26 and 27 to see what they think.
The spokesman continued: “No decision about implementation will be made until the consultation process has been completed.
“Even if implemented, NHS Highland has a no redundancy policy and there is no expectation of job losses to kitchen staff.
“They would still be required to provide residents with three meals a day, as well as maintain and serve the meals to the standard that both NHS Highland and the Care Inspectorate expect for our residents.”
Apitito was contacted for comment.
