Dietary needs of the elderly

have come under scrutiny in the last few days. One of our local food celebrities, Maggie Beer, has said that feeding people well on $7 a day in nursing homes is not possible. 
I doubt it would be possible to feed elderly people on $7 a day too.
This is despite the fact that I am, I think, a careful shopper. I know what the Senior Cat needs in the way of nutrition and I know how I need to give it to him. 
There is a constant "tension" of sorts here because my dietary needs  - as a younger female - are not the same as his. He doesn't like "great lumps of protein" but he needs protein. Thankfully the Senior Cat will eat fruit and vegetables. He isn't fond of cake and puddings but he does like good bread. Those things help. 
He would hate the food I have seen in nursing homes. I spent years living in university accommodation and, while the students complained,  the food there was better than the food in the nursing homes I have visited. School dinners in Britain (and I had a few) were better than the food in nursing homes. 
I know it is difficult. There are dietary restrictions and feeding issues as well as the financial issues. But, does it always have to look and smell the same? Is cheap beef mince the only meat they can buy?  
We aren't treating the elderly well but it seems we are also starving some of them. 
I was told off recently for slipping an elderly man of my acquaintance a bar of good quality dark chocolate. He doesn't have diabetes and there are no other medical issues to suggest he should not have it but the staff member told me, "We don't like people bringing things like that in because some people can't have them."
Take in a birthday cake? They would rather you didn't do it but, if you must, then it can't be shared of course...so you end up taking most of it away with you. And yes, I know why - but it does make things even more difficult.
A friend of mine took the same elderly gentleman out to lunch the other day. They "dined in style" he told me. What they ate is not what the nursing home would have approved of but he enjoyed it, thoroughly enjoyed it. His friend J... told me it was well worth the effort of taking him out he enjoyed it so much and made his appreciation very obvious.
I was reminded of someone I knew. At 101, she was taken out by a nursing home on New Year's Eve. Along with four other centenarian residents who were alert they were taken in comfort to look down at the city lights from a vantage point just before the new century came in. They had "champagne and orange juice" and some "nibbles".
When I saw her a couple of days later she told me, "It was magical. I can't thank the staff enough for giving me the experience." 
When M... died about three months later she was still talking about it.
That particular nursing home is outstanding - but very, very expensive. The staff had still given up their own time to make the outing possible.
Was it worth doing? Someone asked me what the point was when the residents didn't have much longer to live. Why shouldn't they have enjoyed an outing? 
Why shouldn't they enjoy their food? There may be very little else they can do - and perhaps they would do more with good food.