news
Aged care minister
Richard Colbeck.
Picture: Kym Smith
Call to end ‘drip feed’ funding
New Home Care funds welcomed,
but problems persist.
A
ged care minister Richard Colbeck
has announced a bump in funding
for entry-level home support,
but aged care providers says the sector is
being drip fed.
Colbeck said $150 million in government
funding will be spent over three years to
enable more senior Australians to access
entry-level home support.
“Around 18,000 seniors will benefit from
Dementia superstitions
Bad luck, witchcraft, God’s will?
Survey reveals global attitudes
towards dementia.
A
lzheimer’s Disease International
(ADI) has released the results of the
world’s largest dementia study and
it shows that most people believe dementia
is a normal part of ageing.
The survey canvassed 70,000 people
over 155 countries and highlighted a global
lack of knowledge about dementia.
ADI, an international federation of 100
Alzheimer’s groups, together with the
London School of Economics – which
carried out analysis of the study – found
4
agedcareinsite.com.au
that 62 per cent of healthcare practitioners
also think it is a normal part of ageing,
rather than a neurodegenerative disorder.
More concerning was the statistic that
48 per cent of respondents believe that
memory will never improve for a person
with dementia, even with medical support,
while one in four people think there is no
way of preventing dementia.
Forty per cent of the public respondents
believe that healthcare practitioners
ignore people with dementia. And 50 per
cent of healthcare practitioners said that
colleagues do ignore those living with
dementia, and 33 per cent worried that
they too would be ignored if they had
dementia.
an expansion of entry-level home support
over the next 12 months,” he said.
“These grants will enable more services
to be available in areas where demand
outstrips supply so that senior Australians
can continue to be at home.”
Aged and Community Services Australia
(ACSA) said while the move will help
thousands of Australians needing support,
it won’t do much to dent the waiting list.
The latest Home Care Packages Program
data report revealed that the waiting list
jumped to 129,000 by the end of March.
Patricia Sparrow, ACSA chief executive,
said: “Of course, providers and older
Australians are always appreciative of
additional investment, but the drip feed will
need to end at some point.
“We need to ensure that the thousands
of people waiting for home care get
support and that the sector is sustainable
well into the future.”
Sparrow said the sector needs an urgent
boost of 40,000 Level 3 and 4 Home Care
Packages for the period 2019–20, which
she said is the main cause of the waiting
list backlog. ■
Ten per cent of respondents said that
dementia is God’s will, while 2 per cent
believe it is attributable to witchcraft.
One in five people surveyed believe
that being diagnosed with dementia is just
bad luck.
Under 40 per cent of respondents from
the general public believe that there are
adequate community services available for
those living with dementia and their carers.
“Stigma is the single biggest barrier limiting
people around the world from dramatically
improving how they live with dementia,” said
ADI’s chief executive Paola Barbarino.
“The consequences of stigma are
therefore incredibly important to understand.
“At the individual level, stigma can
undermine life goals and reduce
participation in meaningful life activities as
well as lower levels of wellbeing and quality
of life.
“At the societal level, structural stigma
and discrimination can influence levels of
funding allocated to care and support.”
Worldwide, someone is diagnosed with
dementia every three seconds.
The disease costs about US$1 trillion
($1.5 trillion) each year, a figure set to
double by 2030.
The number of people living with dementia
is forecast to more than triple, from over
50 million currently, to 152 million by 2050. ■