Ensuring quality dementia care is a focus of aged care reform

SPECIALISED CARE AND DEMENTIA-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES PLAY A CRUCIAL ROLE

Achieving quality dementia care is one of Dementia Australia’s strategic priorities. While many of the key priorities in Dementia Australia’s Roadmap for Quality Dementia Care have been supported by Government through the current aged care reform process and the 2021 Federal Budget, there is still much to be done.

Dementia Australia is calling for support of three crucial initiatives outlined in our 2022-23 Federal Pre-Budget Submission, which build on existing measures designed to deliver quality care and inclusion for people living with dementia.

The first initiative is compulsory dementia education for the aged care workforce through an investment in training and education programs and tools. With more than two-thirds of aged care residents living with a moderate to severe cognitive impairment, dementia education and training is critical. Although funding was allocated to aged care workforce education as part of the Government’s response to the Aged Care Royal Commission’s recommendations, more is required to ensure that all aged care workers are appropriately educated and supported to provide quality dementia care. Another one of the initiatives outlined in our submission is the need to ensure quality dementia care extends to the delivery of a National Dementia Palliative Care Program, which will provide specialist dementia palliative care.

A national program can be established through the expansion of Dementia Australia’s Nightingale Program. Dementia Australia’s Nightingale Program, established in 2016, is a unique and innovative nurse-led model of palliative care. It is the only specialist dementia palliative care program in Australia, providing dementia-specific education and clinical support to people living with dementia, their families and carers in South Australia.

The program was originally developed to improve planning opportunities and early access to a palliative approach to

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care. The program provides strategies and advice to support people living with dementia, their families and care providers, with a focus on promoting choice and wellbeing during all stages of diagnosis.

The third initiative outlined in the submission is the continuation of our Dementia-Friendly Communities program, which creates inclusive suburbs or towns where people living with dementia are able to continue living the life they choose.

Established in 2016, the program aims to improve understanding and awareness, and to reduce the stigma, discrimination and social isolation associated with dementia, through the development of communities that welcome people living with the condition. The program’s commitment to inclusive communities encompasses supporting people with dementia to live with purpose and make a meaningful contribution to changing attitudes about dementia.

Approximately 70 per cent of people with dementia live in the community. Dementia-Friendly Communities play a critical role in encouraging inclusivity, respecting the rights of people living with dementia and facilitating access to the services, supports, activities and spaces to which every Australian citizen is entitled. Since its inception in 2016, the program has inspired the involvement of 33,000 Dementia Friends, including more than 4,500 people living with dementia, their families and carers.

The program team work closely with an increasing number of Dementia Alliances, Dementia-Friendly organisations and more than 100 Dementia Hosts (people who host Dementia Friends sessions). The program’s success is based on the central role that people living with dementia play in all program tiers, from the establishment of Alliances and the development of action plans, through to awareness raising activities and implementation of grassroots dementia–friendly change initiatives.

People living with dementia, their families and carers have told us what they need and Dementia Australia is committed to seeing through a transformation that improves the quality of care and support for all people impacted by dementia.

Maree McCabe AM is CEO, Dementia Australia. For more information visit www.dementia.org.au/tips-forgrassroots-dementia-advocacy

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2021