Some councils spend as little as £1.10 on each meal

Substandard meals are being increasingly fed to elderly people in Scotland’s care homes.

Statistics from the Care Inspectorate show almost half of all complaints relating to food and nutrition were upheld between 1 February 2017 and end of last month, compared to just 30% the year before.

Age Scotland said it was "disappointing" to see an increase in the number of complaints upheld.

Chief executive Brian Sloan added: “While most care homes provide a high standard of meals, there are clearly improvements to be made. We would like to see greater awareness of the importance of good nutrition and consistent professional training across care homes.”

Donald Macaskill, chief executive of umbrella body Scottish Care, admitted his members were finding it harder to adhere to the national standards on providing varied and nutritious food. He added: “Every care home in Scotland operates under strict nutritional and dietary standards.

“The Care Inspectorate monitors these closely. There are a relatively low number of complaints upheld with 74 in last two years considering every day approximately 100,000 meals are served in care homes in Scotland.

"However, the substantial increase in food, commodity and energy costs in the last few years without an equal increase in fees paid by public authorities is having an impact on the ability of providers to meet these rightly high standards."

Lack of funds mean councils are already cutting back on payments to care providers and two years ago it was revealed some local authorities were spending as little as £1.10 per meal with just sandwiches offered in lieu of a full dinner.

In November, Grandholm Care Home in Aberdeen was threatened with closure by the watchdog for failing to feed its residents properly. And Dumbrae Care Home, in Edinburgh, has been given until March to ensure staff understand the risks of under nutrition and know how to support residents to eat well.

A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate stressed the vast majority of Scotland’s care homes had fared well in inspections. He added: “We carry out regular, unannounced inspections of every care home in Scotland and we know from those inspections that most provide good, very good or excellent care.

“If a concern is raised about any aspect of care, including food or nutrition, we consider all information given to us carefully and work with care services to help them improve.

"If we uphold a complaint, we inform the service of what needs to improve. If we are not satisfied that sufficient improvement is being made and sustained we can, and do, take further action.”