Food at Westwood House Care Home
Our Head Chef here at Westwood House is Dalton Baxter, who manages our catering team and is supported by Second Chef, Rajan Thonipadan, in addition to Charlene Newman and Sue Stutter, who are our Kitchen Assistants.
We review the meal provision regularly and provide fortified, tasty and nutritious meals for residents. The Chefs meet with residents regularly to discuss their particular likes and dislikes to ensure that everyone is offered a dish that they will enjoy. We work alongside dieticians, who also support the Chefs with additional training and advice about particular residents' needs.
Dietary requirements
For residents who have difficulties swallowing, we modify the menu of the day so that the dishes are more palatable for them. To support our chefs in producing these dishes, our hospitality team and our Chef Academy organise theory and practical workshops. The chefs work with the chef trainer to prepare tasty, modified meals safely and according to IDDSI frame work. This encourages residents to eat and enjoy their food. All our chefs have been trained in IDDSI food descriptors.
Attracting top chefs
Our chefs are recruited on the basis of an interview with the regional hospitality support team and the manager of the home. Selection also involves a practical element, where potential chefs are asked to cook for and meet a panel of people living in the home. Chefs take their job extremely seriously and the annual Barchester Chef Competition sees our chefs battle it out in regional heats and then at a national final for the accolade of 'Barchester's Chef of the Year'.
