In Australian residential aged care, where staffing ratios are stretched and resident needs are diverse, the question of whether personal care assistants (PCAs) or assistants in nursing (AINs) should handle meal service alongside their core duties is a hot topic.
With the sector still adapting to post-Royal Commission reforms and awaiting the implementation of the new Act, many care workers report being tasked with serving plates, delivering trays, or assisting with feeds.
This practice, driven by operational pressures, sparks debate about hygiene, workload, and scope of practice. Drawing on insights from aged care workers and broader industry trends, this article explores the pros, cons, and practical implications of care staff serving meals and whether it enhances or undermines quality care.
Across Australia, it is common for PCAs and AINs to be involved in meal service to varying degrees. In some facilities, this means transporting pre-prepared meals from the kitchen to residents’ rooms or dining areas. In others, it includes serving meals or preparing small items like toast and spreads.
Staff describe this as an “all hands on deck” approach, especially during peak times or when short-staffed. In high-care units, workers might pause personal care duties to toilet residents during meals or juggle feeds for those unable to self-feed.
Many say this has long been standard practice, while others believe it is intensifying as a cost-saving measure. Some fear that since food funding merged into general budgets, providers may be redirecting resources, prioritising profits over care.
Having care workers involved in meal service can support a more holistic approach to resident care. Mealtimes are not only about nutrition — they also provide valuable social interaction that helps combat loneliness.
When PCAs or AINs assist with meals, they can observe eating habits in real time, identifying issues like swallowing difficulties or weight loss early. This aligns with the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, which emphasise person-centred food and drink choices to prevent malnutrition.
On understaffed shifts, this approach can improve efficiency, allowing smoother transitions between care and mealtimes. Many workers report that sharing these moments builds rapport, eases later personal cares, and strengthens team cohesion. With the right food safety training, it can even empower staff by broadening their skills without straying far from their core duties.
The biggest concern around care workers serving meals is hygiene. Residents in aged care are often immunocompromised, and the risk of cross-contamination is high.
For example, a worker might provide continence care for a resident with gastro, then immediately handle food trays without time to change uniforms or sanitise properly. Food safety standards demand strict protocols, but in rushed shifts, lapses can occur. Outbreaks like listeria or norovirus show how devastating poor hygiene can be.
Beyond infection control, the extra workload takes time away from essential cares. Workers often feel pulled in too many directions, expected to act as carers, kitchen aides, laundry hands, and activity staff all at once. This dilutes focus, fuels burnout, and blurs professional boundaries.
Scope of practice is another issue. PCAs and AINs are trained in personal care, not food service, and without proper certification, they should not be handling or preparing food. If something goes wrong, providers could face legal and compliance risks.
Regulatory frameworks offer some guidance but also reveal grey areas. The Code of Conduct for Aged Care Workers requires safe, respectful care, including infection prevention. The new Aged Care Act reinforces provider accountability for nutritious, safe meals.
From mid-2025, providers must introduce staff training plans, which may include food safety modules. Unions encourage workers to report scope breaches, arguing that meal preparation should not replace personal care duties.
However, with care minutes now closely monitored, some providers justify meal service as part of “direct care” to meet quotas. High staff turnover and limited funding continue to hinder lasting improvements.
Whether care workers should serve meals depends on the context. In well-resourced homes with clear protocols and training, it can enhance resident experiences without compromising safety. In under-resourced settings, it increases the risk of hygiene breaches and staff fatigue.
Best practice includes mandatory food handler training, dedicated time allocations, and hygiene checkpoints such as uniform changes between cares and meals. Workers should also be supported to advocate for fair workloads and sufficient funding for dedicated hospitality roles.
Ultimately, quality aged care depends on valuing both staff and residents. Meals should be moments of dignity and connection, not casualties of cost-cutting.
They are personal care assistants, yes, they should serve meals and carry out all care tasks except for clinical duties, which should be handled by the RN or EEN. Burnout is an overused word; work your shift and go home like anyone else does.
Personal care staff are not chefs, cleaners or laundry workers. Separate these out to Catering and Environmental Services and stop overworking the limited staff we have in this industry, making them leave it! Burnout is REAL and if you haven’t experienced it, count yourself lucky mate!!! For a lot of us women in the industry (and our industry is mostly women), we also have a full time job at home to go home to, as well as our paid work. The only meal tasks PCs should be doing is assisting the resident to eat. And any staff member caring for a resident with gastro, should not be caring for any other resident and especially not permitted to feed healthy, uninfected residents. That’s just IPC:101.
There is a missing statement within this. Infection Prevention and control requires precautions against contact with body fluids. No facility I have ever consulted mandates the use of plastic aprons when toileting a person to ensure the uniforms are not contaminated. For me this is the only issue in care staff serving meals or preparing snacks as part of wholistic person centered care.
PCAs deliver personal care supervised by Enrolled Nurses and Registered Nurses.
Cleaning, catering and Laundry should be managed by domestic services or a seperate cohort of personnel either in house or outsourced.
To do otherwise is a false economy as PCAs are more costly, creates role ambiguity, poses hygiene risks and does not fit with their training or scope.
So, we change a continence aid, hopefully remove gloves properly, hopefully wash hands then serve meals? Time waste and increases resident risk ?
I personally feel and have worked as an AIN and currently EN for years that assisting a resident with food is awesome as it gives 1:1 time, however meal derive should not be done by AIN’s as it is confusing to residents. Especially now that AIN’s, laundry ,cleaning and kitchen except for Chiefs have the same uniforms the lines a very blurred. Another way for providers to make it look to everyone we have more staff. Providers have no transparency or accountability
At the facility where I work, in the afternoon We have a Carer in the kitchen helping Kitchen Staff. We serve meals to the Residents, feed those who can’t manage it Themselves. The Residents We serve in the dining room love to be able to talk with the Staff, joke around and help make it relaxing. When helping feed the Residents who are bed bound it is a good time to spend some extra time with Them, talk to Them and I personally praise Them when They do eat. Yes it can be challenging but also rewarding. We have training in hygiene, meal preparation twice a year!