2006 Media Releases
Friday, 23 June 2006
Major role for La Trobe University
in national dementia care initiatives
With dementia estimated to cost the nation $5.6 billion annually and rising, La Trobe University has won a key role in three new Federal government initiatives to tackle a condition that looks set to overtake depression as Australia’s number one health issue by 2016.
1) EDUCATION: La Trobe University is playing a major part in an $8.4 million Federal Government plan establishing Dementia Training Study Centres to increase the skills of health professionals working with people who have dementia and their families.
The centres will enable health professionals to access dementia training and scholarships, with students having work placements involving dementia care.
Professor Rhonda Nay, Head of La Trobe University’s Gerontic Nursing Clinical School and Director of the Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care (a joint initiative of La Trobe University and the Bundoora Extended Care Centre) is the coordinator of the Victoria and Tasmania segment of the scheme.
Announcing the scheme in June, the Government said that by increasing the skills and knowledge of tertiary-trained health professionals, the lives of many of the estimated 200,000 Australians who have some form of dementia would be improved.
Professor Nay says the scheme brings together dementia experts from different disciplines to create innovative educational approaches and content. Its five streams deal with medical, nursing, allied health, community support and rural-regional issues. La Trobe University Associate Professor, Susan Koch, will lead the nursing stream.
2) PAIN MANAGEMENT: La Trobe University is also part of a new $2.2 million, three-year project to establish and operate a Dementia Collaborative Centre for Consumers and Social Research.
Financed by the Federal Department of Health and Ageing, the Queensland-based centre links a number of research institutions, including La Trobe University’s Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care.
La Trobe will conduct research into the diagnosis and management of pain – one of five ‘themes’ covered by the project. Professor Nay says she is delighted that the University’s expertise in research into dementia and Alzheimer’s disease has been recognised in this way.
3) EVALUATION: Dr Colleen Doyle, from the Lincoln Centre for Ageing and Community Care Research in La Trobe University’s Australian Institute of Primary Care, is the project director of a new national evaluation project to help people with dementia.
Won by competitive tender, the $1.3 million project will evaluate the Australian Government’s Dementia Health Priority Initiative. Announced in the 2005 Federal Budget, the initiative involves an outlay of $320.6 million over five years to support people with dementia and their carers.
The evaluation consortium headed by Dr Doyle comprises La Trobe University, Applied Aged Care Solutions, University of Melbourne and Access Economics.
It will evaluate more than 17 projects which form part of three major measures in the Dementia Initiative: research to improve care initiatives and early intervention programs; creation of 2,000 dementia specific Extended Aged Care at Home places; and additional dementia specific training for up to 17,000 aged care workers.
For further information:
Professor Rhonda Nay - Tel: 03 9495 3128; Email: r.nay@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Colleen Doyle - Tel: 03 9479 1766; Email: c.doyle@latrobe.edu.au