National Framework for Action on Dementia 2015-2019

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1. POLICY STATEMENT
Australia is one of the high- income countries in the world and it also has a
very large and enhancing older age population. The quantity of the total older age
population is smaller than of total older age population of the japan and western
Europe. The among of total older age population ( Age 65 years or above) in
Australia in recent time is 15% of the total population and it is expected that the
number will increase to 22.5% by the ending of 2050(McPake & Mahal , 2017). The
increasing older age population I recent years is mainly due tip few reasons and they
are lowering rate of older age people mortality and another reason is the declining
fertility rate. In 1960, a 65 years old male can expect almost 12.5 years of additional
life. Whereas, with growing technology in medical science, this additional life
expectancy has increased and almost reaches about 19.5 additional years of living.
However, for the female the number is 15.7 years and 19.5 years respectively
(McPake & Mahal , 2017). In addition to this, total fertility rate is also decreased to
1.9 ( 2013) from 2.9 (1973) (McPake & Mahal , 2017). With growing numbers of
older age population, there are various health care service and policies to address
the problems of older age population. Mainly the older age population have the
problems like dementia, hearing problem, Alzheimer’s disease, fall related problem
due to their aging. In Australia it is assumed that by 2050, almost 1.13 million of
older age population will be affected by the dementia and this wil ultimately increase
the social burden and in 2013 the number was almost 322,000 (McPake &
Mahal , 2017). However, not only Australia, the global scenario of this disease is

very much serious. Australian government has taken various measures to address
the problem of the dementia. To implement those policies the health care
professionals ( HPs) and the health care systems play a crucial role. The main oal of
those policies are to prevent the risk factors of dementia in the older age population.
The National Framework for Action on Dementia 2015-2019 has been developed
under the guidance of Australian health ministry and this involves all the family
members, care givers in the care policies of dementia patients.
2. AIMS
The main aim of this National Framework for Action on Dementia 2015-2019
is to provide improved life for the dementia patients and also to their supportive
caregiver of the family. This framework is designed to inform the policies to the
dementia affected people and as well as to increase the proper awareness to the
older age patients with the dementia ((Australian Government, Department of
Social Services ,2015).
3. TARGET AUDIENCE
In this case, although dementia prevention policies are applied to all
population, the main target audience of these policies are the older age population
that is the age group of 65 and over. It is also evident that, the prevalence of
dementia in older age people is much higher than other age group people.
4. RESPONSIBILITIES
The implementation of those policies is completely dependent on the
general practitioners, multi- disciplinary teams of the health care centre
and also the various tools of assessing dementia that too help the HPs to

assess the problems of dementia patients. The general practitioners are
the first level of caregiver of the dementia patients as they can assess the
symptoms of the disease and start the initial procedures of the policy. They
are also responsible for the long term planning and policies for the disease
as well. To provide a proper support the general practitioners should have
proper knowledge about the disease , its prevalence, the evidence of the
disease. In addition to this, the awareness about the patient service, the
knowledge about the clinical tools about that disease will also help them to
implement the policies properly. General practitioners also need to know
the seriousness of the disease and according to the condition, they have to
refer the patients to the other specialists. The home-assessment that is
implemented by the nurses can be a crucial part of the dementia care
policy. As dementia needs a multidisciplinary team to implement the
pollicises of care , there are various members of the multidisciplinary team
such as experts in various sections like neurologists, cardiologist,
anaesthetist, psychiatrist, geriatricians, specialist nurses. Along with this,
the family and other care giver of the patients plays a crucial role in
detection of dementia as they are in the family can see the person most of
the time. This information from the family member is a crucial factors for
the HPs too. However, if the disease is detected in early stages, it is quite
easy to keep the patient under the strategy plan. Whereas the people who
are living alone and may not have the family support , the multidisciplinary
teams play crucial role in assessing the symptoms of those people with the
support of the community and give proper support to the lonely older age
people with dementia. The diagnostic tool that is required to assess the