South Tyneside woman appears on national television after designing multi-sensory menu

A woman from South Tyneside has appeared on national television, after designing a multi-sensory menu that will support disabled individuals with eating.

29-year-old Aisha Purvis founded Sensmart, a business which revolutionises health-tech in order to combat malnutrition, dehydration, food waste, prolonged hospital stays and emotional eating in a clinical setting. 

Aisha founded the business after working as care home manager, and witnessing first hand frontline care facilities failing to provide the best patient care due to the lack of tools.

Aisha, who also works as a mental health nurse, came up with an idea to help give disabled individuals, especially those that are non-verbal more control when it comes to eating. 

With her business Sensmart, Aisha designed a multi-sensory food menu, which incorporates auditory, visual, tactile and olfactory stimulation.

The menu includes micro encapsulated oil that produces the smell of a meal, images of the food that are raised with braille for visually impaired individuals and also includes a speaker where a voice will explain the meals.

Aisha explained: “I came up with this idea because I was recognising that elderly patients were malnourished, while working on a student placement in a hospital.

“I already knew from my experience as a care home manager how hard it is for elderly individuals with Alzheimer's, dementia or other degenerative diseases to eat.” 

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Aisha’s daughter Millie was also a huge part of the idea, as Aisha explained: “Mille has Rett syndrome, and at the time she was going through a regression where she wasn’t eating.”

After recognising various individuals who needed support with eating, Aisha came up with the idea of the multi-sensory menu, and designed and tested a prototype which was well received by patients as well as her daughter Millie, and helped them to eat.

She went on to work with professional perfumer Harry Sherwood, and together they replicated the aromas of meals such as a roast chicken dinner, fish and chips and even drinks such as orange juice and peppermint tea.

Sensmart currently has 24 meal scents, which are used within their multi-sensory menus, and have plans to enhance their scent library in the near future.

Aisha recently appeared on BBC’s Morning Live, where she discussed Sensmart and their multi-sensory menu with Dr Ranj Singh.

Speaking of her appearance on the television show, Aisha said: “I was really nervous, but it was an amazing opportunity to chat with Dr Ranj and to speak about this important cause, and what Sensmart are doing.”

In the Morning Live interview, Aisha explained that she found that patients would engage better with food when using their sense of smell.

Although scent is a huge part of Sensmart’s multi-sensory menu, Aisha also ensured that other senses were incorporated in order to cater to all individuals who need support with eating.

Looking ahead at the future of her start-up business, Aisha said: “My long-term goals for Sensmart is to see our products being used in private care homes and the NHS.”

Aisha also expressed that she would eventually like to see Sensmart’s products being used commercially, which will help with accessibility for disabled individuals visiting restaurants.