Better support for Aussies with dementia

Australians living with dementia will receive better support, with a focus on better medication management in aged care, after new federal government funding was announced last week.

A number of projects will receive funding through the $60 million second round of the Government’s Aged Care Service Improvement and Healthy Ageing Grants Fund, which will deliver $378 million over four years.

Initiatives focused on better dementia support include:

• Continuation of the Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory Services (DBMAS) including the National Coordination Network and National Helpline activities and the expansion of DBMAS into acute and primary care.
• Flinders University in Adelaide will seek to build the capacity of residential aged care providers to deliver person centred care to people with dementia in aged care.
• Alzheimer’s Australia will receive funding for the national rollout of evidence based programs and services to benefit people with dementia, their families and carers.
• The University of New South Wales will run a project which aims to reduce the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medication in aged care.
• The University of Tasmania will deliver a project to reduce the inappropriate use of sedative medications in aged care.

Former Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, said it was important to continue to improve the support available to people with dementia, including best practice medication management in aged care.

“Last year, I held meetings with leading health professionals and researchers to discuss options to improve care for people with dementia that exhibit challenging behaviours,” Minister Butler said.

“People want to ensure we have policies and tools for staff and aged care services that support good dementia practice and encourage the management of underlying causes and non-pharmacological strategies as first line treatment for people with dementia.

“These new projects help us achieve that goal and build on work funded through the National Prescribing Service which includes the development of tools to assist aged care facilities to evaluate medication usage and provide support for prescribers and staff to manage complex medication regimens.

“We’ve also recently released the Guiding Principles for medication management in residential aged care facilities to help managers and staff to put into practice the quality use and safe management of medicines.”

The government’s Living Longer. Living Better aged care reform plan has a significant focus on dementia with $268 million to be invested to tackle the epidemic.

The plan includes a new Dementia Supplement in home and residential care, as well as improving hospital and primary care for people with dementia and reducing the time between symptoms and diagnosis.

“These initiatives are all part of the federal government’s $3.7 billion Living Longer Living Better aged care reforms and I look forward to the passage of the underpinning legislation in the Senate in this sitting period,” Minister Butler said.

A full list of shortlisted applicants can be found at the Department of Health and Ageing website.