Dementia Australia calls on Scott Morrison to back more support for Australians with dementia

The nation’s peak dementia group has written to Scott Morrison calling for more support services for people living with dementia.

Phil Hazell, 61, has early onset dementia and says without his assistant dog Sarah, 5, he would barely be able to leave the house. Picture: John Feder

Australians living with dementia are calling on the Morrison ­government to use the May federal budget to increase funding for better specialist care services, proper dementia training for care workers and dementia-friendly design in nursing homes.

Peak advocacy body Dementia Australia has written to Scott Morrison calling on him to adopt all the aged care royal commission’s recommendations on dementia care, saying the Prime Minister has a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to support the almost half a million Australians with dementia and the 1.6 million more people who are involved in their care.

The letter, seen by The Australian, states that dementia is “one of the largest health and social challenges facing Australia”.

“As well as being the chronic condition of the 21st century, it is a debilitating, progressive and ultimately terminal disease and the second leading cause of death of Australians annually and the leading cause of death of women,” the letter states.

“Of all the people living in care, 68 per cent have dementia, and the disease is increasingly impacting younger Australians.

“Now it is time for the Australian government to act. Your response provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to commit to the funding and policy settings we need to deliver quality dementia care. It is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.”

Dementia care was a key issue that emerged during the aged care royal commission, and a number of the commission’s 148 recommendations in its final report dealt with delivering better dementia care.

The letter calls on the Prime Minister to support those recommendations, which include establishing a dementia support path­way, providing more funding for specialist dementia care services, legislating for dementia-friendly design in aged-care homes and improving dementia care training for workers.

The government has committed to providing its substantial response to the commission’s final report in the budget on May 11.

But aged and dementia care is competing for funding with a range of other social policy programs, including disability funding under the National Disability Insurance Scheme and increased support for childcare.

“Careful consideration will be given to the royal commission report and the government will outline the path to transform aged care in the budget,” a spokesman for federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

Dementia Australia advisory committee chair Phil Hazell can speak to the benefits of investment in support for people living with dementia. In his case, that support is a five year-old labrador named Sarah, his dementia assistance dog.

Mr Hazell, 61, was 55 when he started noticing he’d forgotten to go to an appointment, or couldn’t find his way to a meeting. He was formally diagnosed a year later with younger onset dementia, a condition he says cost him his job.

Sarah came to him aged eight weeks as one of the nation’s first dementia assistance dogs. At home she will help him find his phone or keys. And when Mr Hazell travels, whether by train, bus or plane, Sarah comes too.

“She sits in premium economy by the window, on the floor. She even carries her own ticket onto the plane,” he said.

“Airports are one of the worst places for me. They are busy and noisy. If I’m lost or confused she will know that, and she will calm me down..”

Mr Hazell said that he too was looking to the Morrison government to deliver real change in the budget for people with dementia.