What the Standard requires
- Identify each participant who needs mealtime management.
- Assess their needs through appropriately qualified health practitioners, covering nutrition and swallowing, seating and positioning for eating and drinking, and a mealtime management plan.
- Review assessments and plans annually, or as the practitioner advises, and sooner if needs change or difficulty is observed.
- Involve the participant, with their consent, in their assessment and plan.
- Train workers to understand each participant's needs, prepare safe and enjoyable meals, manage health risks related to mealtime difficulties, and know what to do if someone coughs or chokes.
- Keep plans accessible to the workers providing mealtime support.
- Plan menus with participants so meals are nutritious, enjoyable and reflect their choices and their practitioner's recommendations, and manage chronic health risks such as swallowing difficulties, diabetes, anaphylaxis, food allergies, obesity or being underweight.
- Prepare texture modified food and fluids exactly as the plan says, with a check that the texture is correct.
- Store meals safely, clearly identified for the right participant.
Texture modified food and drinks
In Australia, texture modified foods and thickened drinks are described using the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative, known as IDDSI. A mealtime management plan will state the level for each food and drink. Workers should never change a texture or drink thickness themselves; only the participant's practitioner, usually a speech pathologist, can change the plan.
Severe dysphagia is a high intensity support
Where a participant needs severe dysphagia management, the high intensity daily personal activities module also applies. Each worker must receive training specific to that participant's needs and to managing dysphagia related incidents, delivered by an appropriately qualified health practitioner, and the plan must say how risks, incidents and emergencies will be managed.
Evidence checklist
- A list of participants who need mealtime management
- Current practitioner assessments and mealtime management plans, with review dates
- Plans kept where workers can see them at mealtimes, while protecting privacy
- Training records, including participant specific training where required
- Menus planned with participants that reflect their choices and plans
- A texture check procedure for every meal and drink
- Incident records for coughing, choking or other mealtime events, and follow up with the practitioner
If someone is choking and cannot breathe, cough or speak, call 000 and follow your first aid training.
Train your team
These courses cover mealtime support and swallowing safety in depth:
60 minSupporting Safe and Enjoyable Meals
Mealtimes should be safe, social and enjoyable. For participants with swallowing, chewing or eating difficulties, the way we prepare food and support a meal can be the difference between a good day and a hospital admission. This course explains why mealtime risks matter, how to read and follow a mealtime management plan, how texture modified foods and drinks are described using the IDDSI framework, how to position and support a person to eat, how to recognise and respond to choking, and how to protect dignity, choice and enjoyment. It builds knowledge only. You must also be trained and assessed as competent for each participant by a qualified health practitioner and always follow the participant's plan. Duration: 60 minutes.
50 minSevere Dysphagia Support
Severe dysphagia means a person has serious difficulty swallowing, chewing or managing food, drink and saliva, with a high risk of choking, aspiration, malnutrition and dehydration. This course explains what severe dysphagia is, how aspiration pneumonia develops, how to follow a participant's mealtime and swallowing plan, why oral care and saliva management matter, how medication can be given safely, and how to recognise and respond when something goes wrong. It refers in general terms to the NDIS High Intensity Support Skills Descriptors. This course builds knowledge only. You must also be trained and assessed as competent for each participant by a qualified health practitioner and always follow the participant's plan. Two case studies bring it together. Duration: 50 minutes.
45 minSafe Food Handling
Many support workers help participants shop, store, prepare and enjoy food, and for older people or people with health conditions food poisoning can be serious. This course covers hygiene in the kitchen, cleaning and sanitising, keeping raw and ready to eat food apart, the temperature danger zone, use by and best before dates, cooking and reheating, and following allergy and mealtime plans. Three case studies show safe food handling in an older person's home, on a cooking night in a shared home and on a hot day out. It is written for everyday home support, not commercial kitchens, and supports participant choice and independence in the kitchen. Duration: 45 minutes.
90 minOperating a SIL Home
Everything that keeps a supported independent living home safe, compliant and genuinely homely, shift after shift. This course covers working in a person's home, active support, handovers and records, and keeping housemates safe with each other. It works through every routine check: fridge and freezer temperatures and what to do when they are out of range, smoke alarms, fire equipment and evacuation drills, test and tag and electrical hazards. You will learn safe food handling and leftovers, mealtimes and choice, hazardous chemicals and safety data sheets, cleaning and infection control, medication, residents' money, maintenance, vehicles, emergencies, incidents and reportable incidents, and keeping notices current. Case studies bring it together. Duration: 90 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Who needs a mealtime management plan?
Each participant identified as needing mealtime management. Their needs are assessed by appropriately qualified health practitioners, who provide the plan.
How often must mealtime management plans be reviewed?
Annually or as the practitioner advises, and sooner if needs change or difficulty is observed.
What is IDDSI?
The International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative, the framework used in Australia to describe texture modified foods and thickened drinks by level.
Can a support worker change a participant's food texture?
No. Prepare food and drinks exactly as the mealtime management plan says. Only the participant's practitioner can change the plan.
Source: NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Checked 10/11/2026. Provider Compliance is not affiliated with the Victorian Government.