Our top tips to help overcome motor difficulties in people with a Dementia

This week is Nutrition and Hydration Week, a week committed to focusing energy, activity and engagement on nutrition & hydration as an important part of quality & safety in health & social care settings. Every day this week we will be bringing you our best practice tips, helpful advice and more, designed to give you inspiration to improve nutrition and hydration levels for the people you support.

People with a Dementia can experience difficulty with cutlery, coordination to eat independently and remembering to open their mouths in order to eat.

Our top tips to help with motor difficulties

• Adaptive cutlery may be needed to help maintain independence when eating.
• Add a plate guard  and a nonslip mat aid loading the fork or spoon
• Cut food up into small pieces that can be eaten with a spoon - plastic smaller spoons can be great for peoples who want small mouthfuls. They are lightweight and come in a range of bright colours to aid recognition. They are a good option when assisting with eating as they help to eliminate the painful banging of metal cutlery on teeth.
• Flat head spoons are perfect for people who are unable to open their mouths very widely.
• Prompt to remind a person when to open their mouth in order to eat.
• Finger foods are an option if cutlery is too difficult.

For more hints and tips visit our Solutions to Help Overcome Motor Difficulties

If you've missed our previous blogs discussing  key topics on nutrition and hydration  and would like more help and tips to improve your residents’  dining experience and improve their nutrition and hydration  levels, check out our blogs here.

Also please feel free to pop back each day during #nutritionandhydrationweek as we share best practice advice on these important issues and we’d love you to join our mailing list where we regularly share the knowledge and experience we have gained working in the care sector for over 25 years, helping to keep you in touch with new and innovative solutions which support safety and dignity for the people you support.

You can also order your copy of our Dignified Dining Solutions Guide,  designed to help people with a Dementia to eat better, by calling us on the number below.

As always, you can contact us on 01773 713713 or sales@hcsuk.co.uk to discuss how we can help you and those in your care.