Clinical guidelines set to transform dementia care
The first Australian guidelines on dementia have been launched by the Minister for Health and Aged Care Sussan Ley at the Alzheimer’s Australia National Consumer Summit at Parliament House last week.
The national dementia guidelines are designed for those caring for, or working with, people living with dementia.
The Clinical Practice Guidelines and Principles of Care for People with Dementia include 109 recommendations and have the potential to transform dementia care in Australia.
Minister Ley says, with dementia a national health priority and the second leading cause of death in Australia, these guidelines will help to inform a nationally coordinated response to the condition set to affect almost one million Australians by 2050.
“The evidence-based guidelines have been developed specifically for Australia and are designed for use by health care professionals and those caring for, or working with, people living with dementia,” says Minister Ley.
“Clinical guidelines have been shown to improve health outcomes and care, and that is what we are expecting these guidelines to deliver for people living with dementia and their carers.”
Professor Susan Kurrle, director and chief investigator of the Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre (CDPC) says: “clinicians and consumers have been looking forward to the release of the guidelines as they will provide much needed guidance and information on a wide range of issues associated with dementia.”
Mr John Quinn, who is living with dementia says, “these guidelines will help people better understand the specific needs that we as people living with dementia are faced with every day.”
Alzheimer’s Australia National President Professor Graeme Samuel AC explains consumers played a key role in the development of the guidelines to ensure the document is relevant to the needs of people with dementia and their carers.
“These guidelines are an example of the impact that can be achieved when consumers partner with clinicians and researchers,” Professor Graeme Samuel AC says.
The guidelines were developed within the $25 Million NHMRC Partnership Centre: Dealing with Cognitive and Related Functional Decline in Older People (CDPC) and forms part of the Federal Government’s Boosting Dementia Research Initiative.
