Concerns have been raised over the food being served to elderly residents at a north Norfolk care home, who pay more than £1,000 a week for care.
Photos of grey scrambled eggs, overcooked poached eggs, and an underwhelming mousse being served to residents at St Michael’s Court care home, in Aylsham, have been shared on social media – with one former carer saying: “I wouldn’t even feed it to my dog”.
Runwood Homes, which runs St Michael’s Court, acknowledged the food was sub-standard, but said it had been a one-off issue. It added the food was “not served” and “immediately disposed of”.
The care home was told it ‘requires improvement’ after its most recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last year.
“The pictures of the food aren’t even as bad as some of the food I’ve seen served,” Samantha Norton, who worked as a carer at St Michael’s Court from 2015 to 2017, said.
“I once returned a food trolley back to the kitchen as I wouldn’t even serve it to my dog.”
Miss Norton said in her time at the care home the food was "awful", and “everything was frozen or from cans or boxes”.
Residents pay between £1,100 and £1,300 a week for care at St Michael’s Court.
The care home said it offers residents a choice of meals every day and caters for their individual nutritional needs.
But, another former carer at the home, who requested not to be named, said: “On the website it states they deliver ‘nutritious’ food to the residents, who pay a lot of money to live there.
A spokesperson at Runwood Homes, said: “We regret that the food service on Wednesday August 30 fell below the standards that we expect at St Michael's Court. We would like to stress that the food in question was not served and was immediately disposed of.
"We are confident that this was a one-off isolated incident and we have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again, the agency team member employed on this day will not be returning to St Michael's Court."
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