One focus area of Dementia Australia’s Strategic Direction in the next five years is to clearly define what quality dementia care is and embed these principles consistently into practice across the aged care sector. The introduction of the new Aged Care Quality Standards on 1 July 2019 provided a timely opportunity to ensure that quality dementia care is a clear focus for these new standards and that industry is also positioned to explore service delivery that exceeds these standards.  

Work began earlier in 2019 to better define what quality dementia care looks and feels like to people impacted by dementia, with a series of 25 face-to-face focus groups and six video conferences held across the country. The feedback received formed the basis of a draft communique that articulated the key features of quality dementia care against the new standards.

This Communique was taken to the Dementia Australia National Consumer Summit, held on 26 June 2019 in Canberra. Attended by 45 Dementia Advocates, the National Consumer Summit was an opportunity for Dementia Australia to test and refine initial perceptions, with attendees overwhelmingly agreeing to ratify the Communique at the close of the day. The ratified Communique was later in the year delivered to Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians.  

The next step in progressing our Quality Dementia Care Initiative was the Dementia Australia Quality Dementia Care Roundtable, which was held on 12 November 2019 in Melbourne. The Quality Dementia Care Roundtable was a targeted consultation with key decision makers, including representatives from government, regulators, workforce and industry discussing how to embed quality dementia care more consistently across the aged care system. The ongoing involvement of consumers ensured that the conversation was grounded in the experiences of people impacted by dementia. The outcome of the day was the development of an action plan with clear objectives to be achieved over an agreed period.