Advocacy group calls for mandatory dementia education

Australia's peak body for dementia is pushing for compulsory workforce training to boost aged care services for people living with the disease.

Over two-thirds of people in residential aged care are estimated to live with a moderate to severe cognitive impairment, yet staff training around dementia is not mandated.

Non-profit charity Dementia Australia drew up the Quality Dementia Action Plan to offer guidelines for staff and providers to raise their dementia care standards.

"We have a situation where people support those living with dementia without necessarily understanding how the disease affects a person," Dementia Australia's executive director Leanne Emerson says.

"That's because it's not a mandatory part of their annual education.

"But workforce capacity to understand and support dementia is incredibly important and fundamental to how quality dementia care is delivered across the sector."

Roughly 70 per cent of Australians with dementia live in the community, of which nearly 10,000 receive specific dementia care in their home care packages.

They are more likely to require high levels of care – three out of four people received either a level 3 or level 4 'high care need' package.

But the dementia care package only supplies extra funding for providers, not the delivery of specific staff with knowledge about dementia.

"There's this sense that dementia should be a core business for the aged care sector, but we know that in practice it's not," Emerson says.

"That's because it's assumed all aged care providers should be able to support ageing people, irrespective of their underlying health conditions."

Emerson highlights that dementia affects people's behaviour and personality in vastly different ways depending on factors such as the type of disease, comorbidity and length of the illness.

Whereas someone with dementia might become more restless, anxious, angry, or disoriented, another might hear or see things that aren't real.

"When people living with dementia receive care from staff that have completed dementia education, fewer incidences occur," Emerson says.

"Dementia education also leads to fewer high-risk incidents and lower rates of inappropriate use of medication, which results in better service and quality of life for people with dementia."

The action plan aims to improve quality care for people with dementia by building workforce capacity and understanding of the disease.

The charity also pushes for better access to allied health services to keep those with the disease physically fit and to implement dementia-friendly designs in aged care homes.

"We all have a shared responsibility to improve quality care for people with dementia," Emerson says.

"So, the report looks at all those factors combined and how we can change practice on the ground."

Emerson says the physical environment in residential care is particularly important because it can restore a person's independence.

"Adding visual cues and prompts in homes, such as signage in hallways, can make a massive difference for people with dementia."

"It allows a person with dementia to move around a space [more freely] and to continue to engage."

One example Emerson has heard frequently from people with dementia is difficulties using public bathrooms. 

"The outside of the door is often clearly signed, but once inside, there are multiple doors which can make it hard for people with dementia to get back out," she explains.

"Adding signs in aged care homes indicating where the exit is can help them find their way.

"Or design features, such as a coloured toilet seat in an all-white space, can provide a visual cue that that is the toilet."

The budget recently committed $26.1 million to aged care homes to boost their services in caring for vulnerable groups and older people living in regional areas.

Earlier in October, the government also allocated $25 million for research into dementia, ageing and aged care, dividing the money into 18 grants to various projects.

The projects explore areas such as developing an app to detect early signs of dementia and finding effective early treatment.

While Dementia Australia has welcomed the increased funding, Emerson says we should be cautious in sending out messages about successful trials as they might give people false hope.

"There's some promising research going on, and they receive a lot of attention," Emerson says.

"But we've still got a long way to go.

"So, it's important we give people hope, but remain careful about balancing excitement with how far the medical world is in finding a 'cure of dementia'."

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