Great Ocean Road Health: Catering for residents and staff
A regional health service with diverse food service needs
Great Ocean Road Health (GORH) is a small regional hospital with two campuses based in Lorne and Apollo Bay. GORH provides a broad range of health services, including residential aged care, acute care and community health programs.
Overall, the catchment is home to approximately 5,700 permanent residents that will expand to over 45,000 visitors throughout the peak holiday season.
GORH prepares all meals onsite for residential aged care residents, acute and respite patients, and more than 50 staff members each day. With small kitchens operating across two campuses, finding an approach that worked for multiple groups was essential.
Balancing different nutritional needs
Leading this work was GORH’s dietitian, William Chow, who collaborates closely with catering staff across both sites. Recognising that residents and staff have different nutritional needs, the team focused on how they could operationalise food service efficiently while supporting the requirements of the Policy directive.
Rather than creating entirely separate menus, the team looked for opportunities to build nutritious staff options into existing kitchen processes.
Delivering nutritious staff meal options with existing kitchen resources
Using ingredients already stocked in the kitchens, they introduced a range of wraps, sandwiches and salads featuring roast chicken and roast beef. These options could be prepared alongside resident meals, minimising additional workload for catering staff while increasing the availability of nutritious options for employees.
The team also introduced readily accessible fruit bowls and mixed nuts in staff areas, providing convenient snack options throughout the day.
By embedding these changes into existing workflows and making use of ingredients already being prepared for residents, GORH was able to support staff wellbeing while maintaining efficient kitchen operations.
Implementing the Healthy choices: policy directive through everyday food service operations
A key lesson from GORH’s experience is that implementing the Policy directive does not require a complete redesign of food service operations. By understanding the different needs of residents and staff, leveraging existing resources, and embedding nutritious options into established systems, even with small kitchens, you can successfully deliver for multiple audiences.
“The main advice I have is to keep the staff menu simple” – William Chow
Need support implementing the Healthy choices: policy directive?
The Healthy Eating Advisory Service supports health services across Victoria to provide practical advice, resources and tailored support to help implement the Policy directive in a way that suits local operations, staff and communities.
Implementing the health services policy directive
Relevant case studies
- Health services
- Implementing healthy changes
- +1
- Health services
- Implementing healthy changes
- +1
Want to assess your menu?
The Healthy Eating Advisory Service acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we operate. We pay our respects to them, their culture and their Elders past and present.
The Healthy Eating Advisory Service is delivered by experienced nutritionists and dietitians at National Nutrition Foundation, with support from the Victorian Government.
Register your interest
"*" indicates required fields
