I believe that dementia care is a specialized area of healthcare that requires specific skills, knowledge and training. People living with dementia are among Australia’s most vulnerable citizens and deserve safe, compassionate and dignified care from appropriately qualified staff.

Too many families have experienced preventable harm, distress and inadequate care due to a lack of dementia-specific training and inconsistent standards within dementia care units.

Every person living with dementia deserves care delivered with dignity, compassion and expertise. No family should experience preventable harm because staff are not adequately trained to understand and care for people living with dementia.

We are therefore asking the following

• recognize dementia care as a specialized area of aged care.
• Introduce mandatory dementia-specific qualifications for all staff working in dementia-specific residential care units.
• Require ongoing education and competency assessments in dementia care.
• Establish minimum staffing standards and skill mix requirements for dementia units.
• Provide better recognition and remuneration for carers who obtain specialized dementia qualifications.
• Develop and implement national standards for dementia-specific care across all residential aged care facilities

Every person living with dementia deserves care delivered with dignity, compassion and expertise. No family should experience preventable harm because staff are not adequately trained to understand and care for people living with dementia.