• What does the New Aged Care Act & National Dementia Action Plan really mean for our organisations?
  • Supporting the person to make informed choices
  • Promoting equity and human rights for people living with dementia and the older person
• What does this mean for our teams and us operationally?
• Open disclosure and mandatory reporting

Hosted with Aged Care Reform Forum in the pre-function area

• How effective training can assist in identifying unmet needs and challenges in the evolution of behaviour for people living with dementia.
• The importance of knowing and observing as well as problem solving in the moment, and in different care settings.
• Understanding what carers bring to the exchange and what they might need to do differently.
• How the National Dementia Education and Training Standards Framework can assist in developing the right skills and knowledge to respond to changes in behaviour.

The Netherlands faces growing challenges in dementia care due to an aging population and workforce shortages. To address this, we are exploring three key innovations:

• Shifting from Professional Care to Community and Volunteer Support
• Using Nature and Animal-Assisted Interventions to Enhance Well-Being
• Integrating Technology Such as Robotics and Smart Home Systems

These innovations collectively aim to create a sustainable, community-driven, and technology-enhanced dementia care model, ensuring a higher quality of life for individuals with dementia while alleviating the pressure on professional caregivers.

• Over 30,000 Australians live in the community with young onset dementia. Striking in mid life, these people are commonly still working, parenting young children and have a mortgage or are paying rent when diagnosed. The devastating impact of this disease affects not just the individual diagnosed, but the whole family.
• This session will report on the findings to date of the Joint Solutions Young Onset Dementia Project and the Project’s work to develop a system of care and roadmap of services responsible for delivering that care to Australians living with young onset dementia and their families.
• The outcomes of ‘kitchen table conversations’ with people with lived experience, the results of a national survey of stakeholders and a review of international and Australian services for this cohort will be presented.

Hosted with Aged Care Reform Forum in the pre-function area

• Strategies for early detection and diagnosis
• Addressing common comorbidities
• How to enhance collaborations with specialists, allied health, and community services

• With a strong solution focus, Spark of Life Model of Care sensitively shifts attitudes and work practices from a clinical/task perspective – to a heart-centred perspective where staff are emotionally connected with their residents, clients, or patients – where everything starts with the quality of the interaction.
• This fundamental shift is the foundation for providing authentic person-centred care that prevents elder abuse and provides the older person with the opportunity to live their lives as included human beings who have choice, meaning and, purpose in their lives.
• From implementing the Spark of Life Model of Care, the human resource challenges of retention and the ability to attract new quality staff are solved, when staff experience a new cohesion, coming together for a common purpose with a common method of care delivery, and when they are being appreciated for their kind engagement.

Hosted with Aged Care Reform Forum in the pre-function area

• We are about to commence a study employing a mixed-methods approach to examine the impact of a simulation workshop on nurses’ attitudes toward caring for older patient with confusion.
• Additionally, the study will evaluate the workshop’s effectiveness in enhancing nurses’ knowledge of dementia and delirium, identifying risks of harm, implementing appropriate strategies for empathetic person-centred care and the importance of engaging with consumers to optimise patient outcome.
• Participants: All nurses in 2 speciality areas at tertiary hospital.
• It is anticipated that limited preliminary data will be available by June 2025.

• What to do when someone doesn’t accept their diagnosis?
• What are the most effective strategies for managing the behavioural and psychological symptoms?
• How to provide person-centred care while respecting the person’s autonomy
• How can we support carers? (family members or professionals)

Hosted with Aged Care Reform Forum in the pre-function area