Malnutrition Symposium: Strengthening nutrition care across settings

Screening & identifying malnutrition in practice

With multiple factors contributing to malnutrition in older adults, early identification is essential to prevent poor outcomes. In this session, Professor Carol Wham will explore the key drivers of malnutrition and the importance of screening as a first-line strategy for early detection and management. Carol will review evidence-based screening tools suitable for community, hospital and residential aged care settings, and share practical considerations for implementing routine screening – including resource needs, staffing, and time constraints.

Carol Wham is Professor Emerita at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand. Her research has focused on improving the nutritional health of older people and she was lead nutrition investigator in two longitudinal studies of ageing; Life and Living to Advanced age: a Cohort Study in New Zealand and within the New Zealand Health, Work and Retirement Study. Carol has examined malnutrition across community, hospital and residential care settings and she led the ENRICH study to Evaluate Nutrition Risk and Intervene to enCourage Healthy eating.

From plate to progress with food-first approaches

How can we make nutrition care both appealing and effective for those at risk of malnutrition? In this presentation, Lisa Sossen will explore practical food-first strategies that enhance meal appeal and variety while delivering essential nutrients such as protein, calcium and vitamin D. She will address the common barriers that limit intake and share creative, workable solutions to overcome them. Lisa will also outline a framework that moves from food-first approaches through to fortification and oral nutrition support, offering strategies to deliver person-centred care with strong clinical outcomes.

Dr Lisa Sossen, Accredited Practising Dietitian, has over 27 years of experience in private practice and aged care, and 13 years in food manufacturing in the texture-modified space. She completed her PhD at Monash (2022) on “Exploring Food First Approaches in Aged Care”. Lisa has contributed to multiple steering committees and now volunteers with Dietitians Australia Aged Care Reforms, IDDSI Global, and the Australian IDDSI Reference Group.

Insights from implementing stronger nutrition care

Join Ami Dutton as she shares practical lessons from putting the Strengthened Aged Care Standards into practice. With over 15 years in aged care, Ami will cover outcomes from malnutrition screening, unplanned weight loss, enhancing the mealtime experience, offering 24/7 dining and supporting Eating & Drinking with Acknowledged Risk. She will outline how referral pathways to dietitians under Standard 5.5.5 have been embedded to deliver timely, person-centred nutrition care, and show how these approaches can be applied in other settings. You’ll gain real-world insights, lessons learned, and strategies that have worked — and sometimes not — to deliver effective nutrition care.

Ami Dutton is a UK-trained APD and General Manager of Eat Well Nutrition Service. With over 15 years in aged care, she leads a team of specialist dietitians supporting aged care homes across Australia. Passionate about partnering with older people, chefs and care teams, Ami’s goal is to educate and empower them to view nutrition care holistically and enhance the mealtime experience, supporting better health, wellbeing and quality of life for older people.

Practical stakeholder engagement for lasting nutrition change

We know how to improve malnutrition care, but getting the right people on board is the real challenge. In this session, Libby Tearne will explore why good ideas sometimes stall and how to get them moving by engaging the right stakeholders in the right way. From aligning executives, clinicians and foodservice teams, to embedding sustainable processes that stick, you will gain practical strategies to drive change in real-world settings. Whether you are redefining screening pathways or leading a hospital-wide initiative, Libby will show you how to cut through the noise, gain traction, and position nutrition as a strategic priority.

Libby Tearne is the National Dietitian at St John of God Health Care, leading nutrition operations across 15 hospitals in VIC, NSW and WA. Her work spans food service, clinical governance and partnering with teams from kitchens to executive leadership. With a background in project management, change and leadership, she brings a strategic lens to nutrition and has a strong interest in stakeholder engagement and system-wide collaboration. She is passionate about positioning nutrition as a core healthcare priority and making the right nutrition care the easiest decision in any setting.