Complaint Investigation Report

The allegation of “Facility has inadequate food service” alleges that the facility takes an unacceptable amount of time to bring food trays to resident’s rooms and that the food provided to residents is not of good quality. LPA interviewed Resident #1 (R1) who stated that the facility provided them with a tray service and delivered food to their room. R1 stated that they had received many inadequate meals that were burnt, raw, or over salted and that meals delivered arrived cold. LPA Byrne conducted a physical plant tour of the facility and observed the facility to have a sufficient supply of two (2) days perishable and seven (7) days non-perishable foods. LPA interviewed facility staff including the Director of Dining, caregivers, a sous chef, and a server. Staff interviewed stated that R1 received all meals via tray service delivered to their room. Staff #1 (S1) stated that originally, R1 would write their food order for a meal on a menu and the caregiver assisting R1 would take the order down to kitchen staff. S1 stated that ordering this way led to delays in R1 receiving food at the times they requested it so R1 was instructed to call in food orders directly to the dining room. The Director of Dining confirmed that R1 was requested to call in their food orders. The Director of Dining stated that they expected R1’s food orders at certain times during the day and if they had not heard from R1 they would personally call to R1’s room to take their order. Interviews with staff and residents revealed that there have been times where the food that is ordered takes longer than normal to be served to the residents and due to this delay residents were served cold meals. Residents interviewed stated that if notified staff will take the meal back to warm it up or will remake the meal. Staff interviewed confirmed that at resident’s request meals are reheated and denied ever refusing to reheat or remake a resident’s meal. Although the allegation may have happened or is valid there is insufficient evidence to support the allegation of, “Facility has inadequate food service.” Therefore, the allegation is deemed Unsubstantiated at this time.