Collaboration creates consumer focused dementia guide
An ongoing partnership formed between aged care providers, allied health groups and government body National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in 2011 is currently working to create a consumer guide for those living with dementia, set to be released in 2018.
The recent two-day workshop for the guide creation (Source: Twitter)
The Consumer guide for people to live well with dementia is being developed by HammondCare, Helping Hand, Brightwater Care Group, Dementia Australia and NHMRC – as the NHMRC Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre – to support people living with dementia and those around them to make informed choices around their care.
It hopes to specifically provide information on which evidence-informed reablement interventions may be useful to support someone in their daily functioning.
Research fellow with the Centre of Positive Ageing, HammondCare, and Conjoint Lecturer with University of New South Wales, Claire O’Connor says the collaborators recently held a two-day workshop to help in the production of the guide.
“The introduction of consumer directed care means people living with dementia and their support people have more control over how they spend their funds,” she says.
“But there is no clear information about what the best evidence-informed interventions are to support function and quality of life for people living with dementia.
“The guide aims to provide clear accessible information about what programs and services consumers could be asking for to address their needs.
“Last week’s workshop involving a diverse group of consumers, policy makers, allied health, aged care sector representatives and academics aimed to provide feedback on the evidence, review the contents, gain a range of perspectives on the guide, and explore strategies for how to promote the guide to the community once it is released.”
She adds that the project is going well and that they are now in the process of bringing the workshop outcomes together to draft the consumer guide.
“We had some great feedback through the workshop which is really going to help moving forward with the development of the guide,” Ms O’Connor says.
A team of people will be working to bring the guide together before it is launched at HammondCare’s International Dementia Conference in Sydney in June 2018.
Following its release, which will see it be made available to all free of charge via online download, the Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre Reablement in Dementia Program will conclude.
Ms O’Connor says that now, in it’s fourth year of operation, the CDPC has been “really helpful” by supporting a number of studies into aspects of care for people living with dementia and from the perspective of HammondCare, it is working “very well” and is a great example of a successful academic/industry collaboration.
