Spotlight on dementia ahead of report

Grahame Smith first sensed something wasn’t right in 2013.

Grahame Smith, with his dog Jesse in the Blue Mountains, is seeking a pathway to quality care for all people dealing with dementia. Picture: Jane Dempster

Grahame Smith first sensed something wasn’t right in 2013.

Driving home from work on the M4 to the lower Blue Mountains, his regular journey for years, a couple of times he struggled to know where to go.

Then one day he went to tie a pair of shoes, and drew a complete blank.

By 2016, the high-powered executive working with an international not-for-profit had a diagnosis of frontotemporal demen­tia. “It horrified me, quite frankly,” Mr Smith, now 69, said.

“I have dealt with one grief after the other. I had to give up driving, and my motorbike which I loved as I felt 21 again when I was on it. And I had to give up work because I just couldn’t do it anymore.”

In his retirement, Mr Smith has become an advocate for the almost half a million Australians living with dementia, and as such has a close eye on the aged-care royal commission, which hands its final report to the Governor-General on Friday almost 2½ years after being established.

While he has struggled personally to secure the right package of in-home aged-care supports and is aware he will be needing residential aged care sooner than anticipated due to his physical and cognitive decline, Mr Smith is determined to press for broader reform for all those with dementia. “When the final report comes down there, will be a lot of criticism and finger pointing, but I think we need to be focused on the solutions and the way forward,” he said.

“People with dementia are the most vulnerable in the aged-care sector because many can’t speak for themselves. I know I will get to that stage, and I’m glad there will be advocates to represent me.

“I think Dementia Australia’s call for the commission to recommend greater dementia care training for aged-care staff is so important, as just one example,” Mr Smith said.

Dementia Australia chief executive Maree McCabe said the complexity of the aged-care ­system in Australia made it almost impossible for anyone, let alone someone with dementia, to navigate.

Her organisation is hoping the commission has picked up some of its road map for dementia care as part of its final report.

Ms McCabe agrees greater that workforce training to handle those with dementia in aged care is critical.

“It’s not even bad training, it’s no training,” she said.

“In some training programs for aged-care workers, there is not even a subject on dementia, yet 70 per cent of those in residential aged care have a moderate to severe cognitive impairment.

“That’s like putting medical workers in surgery with no skill in wound management,” she said.

Ms McCabe said while the price tag would no doubt be high to address all the shortcomings in the aged-care system, change had to come because by 2058 the ageing population would see about 1.1 million people living with ­dementia.

“We expect the federal government and the sector will commit to significant investment and transformation that will make a profound difference to the experience of people affected by dementia, now and for generations to come,” she said.

“If we get this right for people living with dementia, we get it right for everyone.”