Aged Care Insite Issue 92 | December 2015 - January 2016 | Page 15

industry & policy

Discussions with stakeholders
demonstrate the many ways
the sector is pursuing quality
as the landscape shifts.
By Dallas Bastian and Amie Larter

F

or the last edition of the year, Aged Care Insite spoke to six
stakeholders to determine the big wins for the industry in
2015, and what to expect from the year ahead.
Workforce strategy and planning, funding and quality of life for
older Australians will remain top priorities for the sector in 2016.

BRIONY DOW
DIRECTOR, NATIONAL AGEING RESEARCH
INSTITUTE
Quality of care was high on the research
agenda in 2015, and associate professor Briony
Dow, director of the National Ageing Research
Institute, says this will continue in 2016.
“There’s been a lot of focus on quality
care, which I think is important,” Dow says. “The government
in particular [is looking to measure this and develop
quality indicators].”
One of the important markers, Dow says, is how you measure
quality of life for older people who require care. It’s a question she
says governments and researchers across the world are working
to answer.
“Quality of life … we still don’t really know exactly what that
means to older people, particularly older people from a range
of different backgrounds. What does quality of life mean if you
are an old, Indigenous person living with dementia in a remote
community? [Likewise], if you are a 65-year-old Greek woman
who is caring for her mother as well as a disabled child?”
She points to the current work of professor Gill Livingston
from University College London, who spoke at the Australian
Association of Gerontology conference in November.
“[Livingston] spoke about a research project they are doing that
is part of the Prime Minister’s [challenge on dementia],” Dow says.
“They’re looking at how you improve quality of life