Dementia Australia acknowledges the strong commitment to aged care by the Opposition Leader, The Hon Anthony Albanese MP in his budget reply speech last night.
Maree McCabe, Dementia Australia CEO said the focus on ensuring registered nurses are on site; committing to more time to care as recommended by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety’s Final Report; increasing wages for care workers; ensuring better food for residents and delivering new funding to provide better care, are all welcomed and essential to providing quality aged and dementia care.
“As we turn to the federal election all parties must honour their commitments to fulfil on the Royal Commission’s recommendations and keep dementia front of mind throughout the aged care reform process,” Ms McCabe said.
“We need to maintain the momentum and focus on aged care and dementia, especially in relation to workforce issues and the need for compulsory dementia education.
“With 70 per cent of the almost half a million Australians with dementia living in the community and 70 per cent of those in residential aged care having moderate to severe cognitive impairment, it is crucial to specifically include a guarantee of delivering quality dementia care throughout the entire aged care system – residential and home and community care.
“What our clients and advocates tell us is they want to consistently see and hear a strong message from our leaders that dementia is top of the agenda within the aged care reform process.
“We know from our work and broad consultation with people living with dementia, their families and carers, that if we get quality care right for people living with dementia then there will be quality care for all.”
Dementia Australia is calling for support of three crucial initiatives to build on existing measures designed to deliver quality care and inclusion for people living with dementia.
The three initiatives, outlined in Dementia Australia’s Delivering on the Roadmap for Quality Dementia Care, are focused on the introduction of compulsory dementia education for aged care workers, the establishment of a national dementia palliative care program and renewed funding for the award-winning Dementia-Friendly Communities program.
“We will continue to lead the dementia conversation with all parties and look forward to further discussions on the details of their policy platforms to ensure delivering quality dementia care is a priority across the health, aged care and disability sectors,” Ms McCabe said.
Dementia Australia is the source of trusted information, education and services for the estimated half a million Australians living with dementia, and the almost 1.6 million people involved in their care. We advocate for positive change and support vital research. We are here to support people impacted by dementia, and to enable them to live as well as possible. No matter how you are impacted by dementia or who you are, we are here for you.
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