Our response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is the Quality Care Initiative
If we can get it right for people living with dementia, we can get it right for everyone.
Getting quality care right for people living with dementia is critical. It is our responsibility as a society to provide appropriate care for those who are most vulnerable.
Quality dementia care can and needs to be a core element of aged care in Australia.
Today, there are almost half a million people living with dementia in Australia and more than two thirds of people living in residential aged care have a moderate to severe cognitive impairment.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has identified key failings in the aged care system in relation to people living with dementia, their families and carers.
This is a once in a generation opportunity to transform the aged care system and make a profound difference to the experience of people affected by dementia – for those impacted now and for generations to come.
All Australians need to have confidence and trust in our aged care system. We rely on it to care for our loved ones. We all want to have faith in a system that will care for us if or when we will need to call on it.
We have a roadmap on how we can achieve quality dementia care.
Our roadmap has been developed following extensive engagement and consultation with the health and aged care sector - and most importantly with people with the lived experience of dementia. This roadmap has been developed through the Quality Care Initiative.
A Roadmap for Quality Dementia Care
Our roadmap focuses on three key areas that would transform dementia care in Australia:
- A single point of contact for people impacted by dementia, to help them find the support they need
- Dementia-specific training for all aged care employees
- Dementia-friendly design standards across aged care, which help people living with dementia to remain as independent as possible
By implementing this roadmap, we can dramatically improve the lifestyle, care and health outcomes for all people impacted by dementia. Read the roadmap here.
Improved quality care for people impacted by dementia means reduced hospitalisation, chemical restraint, serious incidents and fewer demands on the system, saving money and saving lives.
Latest Update
Over the next few weeks, we will update this page with more information about our roadmap. Stay tuned for more!
How we developed our Roadmap for Quality Dementia Care
Dementia Australia has a vision for the future of dementia care. This has been developed following extensive engagement and consultation with the health and aged care sector - and most importantly with people with the lived experience of dementia.
Through the Quality Dementia Care Initiative, 2018-2020, we heard from hundreds of people with a lived experience of dementia from across Australia.
These consultations informed the National Consumer Summit held in June 2019, which resulted in a landmark document that defines quality dementia care, ‘Our Solution: Quality care for people living with dementia’. This communique was presented to the federal government in July 2019 and to the aged care sector in November 2019.
This work culminated in an online National Symposium in August 2020 – Dementia Care is Quality Care.
The Quality Dementia Care Initiative has enabled Dementia Australia to provide a very clear vision of what is needed to create a connected, integrated and capable health and aged care system, where people of all ages, living with all forms of dementia, and their families and carers, are placed firmly at the centre.