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Dementia experts welcome Royal Commission into Aged Care system

A Royal Commission into Australia’s Aged Care system has been welcomed by Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre Director Professor James Vickers.

Professor Vickers said the Commission’s success would be intrinsically linked to the proposed terms of reference and a focus on solutions to issues.

One of those issues was the overuse of psychotropic medication in aged care facilities, as highlighted by Wicking Centre researcher Dr Juanita Westbury in Monday night’s episode of ABC’s Four Corners, ‘Who Cares’.

“Widespread education will be one of the imperative solutions in addressing the needs of the estimated 540,000 Australians who are expected to be living with dementia by 2025,” Professor Vickers said.

“The role of care innovation and the application of the latest research to aged care settings will also be important for addressing our current and future needs.

“As highlighted by Dr Westbury, who recently led a research project, RedUse, to reduce the use of psychotropic medication in aged care, it is vital that aged-care staff have high-quality, dementia-specific education to provide high-quality care to older people with dementia.”

Established in 2008, the University of Tasmania’s Wicking Centre is a leader in innovative research and education relevant to people with dementia and their carers.

Professor Vickers said the uptake of the centre’s Understanding Dementia and Preventing Dementia Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) by more than 100,000 Australians showed that there was a high demand for education to assist the those living with dementia.

“The aged-care sector is under extreme pressure in terms of access to the right skills to provide care for people living with dementia – and this pressure will grow as our workforce, the wider community and our economy continues to feel the pressure of the dramatic increase in numbers of people with dementia.

“The demand and uptake of the University of Tasmania’s dementia educational programs have indicated a groundswell of aged-care workers and health-care professionals equipping themselves with the tools for high-quality dementia care.”