Delft Care home cuts back on dementia patients’ meals, angering many

The local political party Hart voor Delft is angry about the adjustment of the provision of meals for residents of the nursing home Die Buytenweye in the city. The care home said this was necessary due to food waste and because the budget had to be kept in mind, according to a letter from the facility to its residents, which Hart voor Delft published on their website.

At the end of December, the residents received a letter about the provision of meals and "adjustments with the least possible impact." The adjustments already started with the first dish. "While you still get soup seven days a week, from 1 January 2023 you will receive a broth four days a week and a soup three days a week. The soups will also be vegetarian more often," was stated in the letter.

Die Buytenweye stated that until last year, more food was provided than the “norm” and therefore food was "often" thrown away. That is why from now on, standards "based on the Dutch average for nursing homes" will be applied, and that "should be more than enough." These include 150 grams of potatoes, 150 grams of vegetables and 80 to 100 grams of meat or fish per resident per day, the facility's team leader reported. From now on, staff serving the food will be equipped with scales.

Residents with a big appetite however, can ask if there is any food left, according to the facility. Furthermore, staff and volunteers"in principle" can no longer eat with the residents, unless there is something left over that would otherwise disappear in the trash can.

However, Hart voor Delft found it "absolutely unacceptable" that "our old people" are treated this way. "Will nursing homes from now on become a kind of food bank?" they asked.

As a result, the party will submit written questions to the relevant city council. Cuts in care are not permissible, certainly not on food, which cannot just be obligatory vegetarian, said Hart voor Delft. "As for the volunteers, these kinds of cuts are not really motivating.”

Healthcare provider Pieter van Foreest, to which the Buytenweye belongs, has not yet responded to a request for comment on the allegations.

The seniors' association ANBO has also never heard of a nursing home restricting food for residents in this way. "And we hope it stays that way because that's the last thing you should do," the spokesperson said.

According to the ANBO, the hot meal is also the highlight of the day for many residents, and we should allow them to have that in the last years of their lives. "Otherwise you will lose quality of life."

Tackling waste is fine, the association said, but it shouldn't be the case that people with a bigger appetite have to constantly ask if they can get anything else on their plate. "They might also start to feel guilty," a spokesperson explained. Individual adjustments are easy because in such a facility it is known who eats more and who eats less, according to ANBO.