National Health Priority Number 9!

Australia’s federal and state health ministers have agreed to make dementia a National Health Priority, paving the way for further research into the disease, possibly more funding, and a national action plan.

Graphic depiction of the eight National Health Priority Areas, prior to Friday’s historic decision


By Yasmin Noone

Federal and state health ministers have finally succumbed to the demands of the sector and the needs of the thousands of Australians, having officially agreed to make dementia a National Health Priority Area (NHPA).

The nation’s health ministers, who gathered for a meeting of the Australian Health Minister’s Advisory Committee in Sydney on Friday, have designated dementia as the ninth National Health Priority Area, along side eight other priority areas like asthma, mental health, cardiovascular health and obesity.

The motion was put forward by federal Minister for Health, Tanya Plibersek and Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, who jointly argued the case to make dementia the ninth NHPA, saying the condition is predicted to become the leading cause of disability in less than four years.

“Today 280,000 Australians live with dementia and by 2050 that figure will have risen to more than one million,” said Mr Butler on Friday.

“This presents major challenges for health and aged care services.”

Mr Butler added that spending on dementia beyond 2060 is set to outstrip that of any health condition, with expenditure due to top $80 billion by 2062-63.

“But early diagnosis has been shown to have significant potential benefits for both the person with dementia and their carers and family, including improvements to quality of life and reducing care burden.”

What it all means

Alzheimer’s Australia campaigners have long been pushing for dementia to be recognised as a chronic disease by the medical profession, governments and communities; to raise awareness about the need for more research into why the disease strikes the way it does; and to achieve more funding for research, support services, early diagnosis measures and possible treatments.

This decision ticks the box on some of the above counts, as it signals an increased number of opportunities for priority funding for research through the National Health and Medical Research Council.

The move is expected to enhance the development of a new National Framework for Action on Dementia, and collaborates efforts aimed at tackling dementia at national, local and state and territory levels.

It will also aim to assist stakeholders across Australia to work together and deliver the right support at the right time for people with dementia and their carers.

Alzheimer’s Australia congratulated the minister’s committee on the historic decision to recognise dementia as a chronic disease, as the organisation believes it marks a seismic shift in health policy.

“Up until now, dementia has been regarded as an older person’s disease and as a natural part of ageing – which it isn’t,” said President of Alzheimer’s Australia, Ita Buttrose.

“…The agreement reached by the Commonwealth and state governments means we can now address dementia across both the health and aged care systems.

“For the first time we have an opportunity to address key failures in the health system in regards to dementia, such as access to timely diagnosis, quality of care in hospitals and raising community awareness about risk reduction strategies for dementia.”

Words of warning

Alzheimer’s Australia believes that continued bipartisan support for dementia is essential to ensure an ongoing government commitment to tackling dementia.

Yet the Shadow Minister for Ageing, Senator Fierravanti-Wells, distributed a press release on Friday morning stating it thought Labor’s move to make dementia a National Health Priority was “hypocritical”.

She said the Coalition committed $320 million in the 2005 budget to help fund the Dementia Initiative – Making Dementia a National Health Priority, while in federal office.

However, dementia-specific funding officially ceased under the Gillard government last year.

“If Labor had not dropped dementia as a national health priority, they would not now have to seek its reinstatement by health ministers and go through the farce of trying to convince dementia sufferers and their families that they are committed to helping them,” Senator Fierravanti-Wells stated.

“Again, we see the sheer hypocrisy of Labor with Ministers Plibersek and Butler trying to hoodwink dementia sufferers and their families over another appalling decision.

“This is a government that cannot do anything right.  Dropping dementia as a national priority was a mistake in the first place.”

The Senator said that, at the last federal election, her party recognised “the debilitating impact this disease has on our community and the growing challenges it presents”, and committed to “reinstate the Dementia Initiative – Making Dementia a National Health Priority”.

She said the Coalition planned to also expand the program, with an extra $50 million over four years, so that it could include other chronic neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

“Along with our promise to boost mental health funding, the Coalition remains committed to improving the level of resources dedicated to fighting dementia,” Senator Fierravanti-Wells said.

HammondCare’s Dementia Centre Director, Colm Cunningham, has also praised the health minister’s for Friday’s decision.

But, his congratulations came with other words of caution as he warned that achieving better dementia outcomes will involve much more than just additional expenditure, as essential as it is.

“The cost of care is a significant challenge and with dementia as a national priority there is a need for service providers to consider how they use their resources to better serve the person with dementia,” said Mr Cunningham.

“We need to consider the journey of someone with dementia and reshape our services if they do not meet their needs.

“The focus on hospital care is critical in this process as a hospital admission can be disruptive and negative for a person with dementia.

“A person with dementia can be moved up to six moves in one admission to hospital. The International Dementia Hospital Hub is just one of our approaches to sharing best practice and informing how we change and develop our services.

“Another issue was access to diagnosis which allows the person with dementia and their family to plan for now and the future.”

National Dementia Helpline: 1800 100 500.  An interpreter service is available (The National Dementia Helpline is an Australian Government Initiative)
 

Tags: alzheimer, cardiovascular, dementia, disability, fierravanti-wells, hammondcare, ita-buttrose, nhmrc, nhpa, tanya-plibersek,

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