Practice and Assessment Guide
The Grampians Region Community Aged Care Dementia Project is a one-off initiative funded to assist in service development and planning.
Below are website links to practice guidelines, publications and training outside of the Department of Health which may be useful resources for those involved in the delivery of Home and Community Care Services. The information and website links provided that have not been developed by the department, do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Health or the Victorian Government.
This document can also be accessed electronically through the PCP website. Go to the HACC button and select Regional Dementia Project.
Practice and Assessment Guides
- The Dementia practice guidelines for HACC assessment services provide dementia-specific information and practical guidance for assessors from HACC assessment services to improve assessment, care planning and service provision for people with possible dementia and their carers.
- The Grey Matters guide is a local resource for people living in the Grampians Region. The guide is intended for those who are concerned about their memory, who have dementia and for carers and family of people with dementia. The guide provides information on the types of dementia, risk factors and prevention, diagnosis pathways, community support assessments and services, therapies and advance care planning.
At home with dementia: A manual for people with dementia and their carers (NSW)
- This publication presents a range of possible solutions to problems commonly faced by people with dementia living at home and ways of approaching and solving problems at home using a person-centred care approach. The information is primarily for carers and is also useful for dementia support workers, occupational therapists and staff of home maintenance and modifications schemes.
Helpful handbook for Memory Loss (Alzheimer’s Australia and Independent Living Centre)
- This publication is intended as a reference for people in the early stages of memory loss as well as their family / friends. It contains information on products and devices as well as tips and hints for managing the effects of memory loss. Topics covered in the book include: preparing for the future, around the home, communication and conversing, remembering things, cooking, safety and products lists.
Worried about your memory booklet and checklist (Alzheimer’s Australia)
- The Worried about your memory booklet focuses on memory and aims to help answer some of the questions that are commonly asked of staff at Alzheimer’s Australia. Both the booklet and the brochure provide a memory concerns checklist. The checklist is a useful resource for assessment staff involved with clients who are concerned about their memory. The checklist can be taken to the doctor and is a good starting point for discussing any worries.
Dementia: Osborne Park Hospital Guide for Occupational Therapists in Clinical Practice (WA)
- This booklet was developed as an Occupational Therapy Department quality improvement project, at Osborne Park Hospital W.A. The majority of the Guide is devoted to identifying common issues or problems associated with dementia, and to outlining evidence based strategies that Occupational Therapists can consider to address these issues. It covers a wide range of activities and functions including home and hospital design, activities of daily living, mobility and falls, communication, wandering, and transport and driving. The final chapter provides information to assist when advising families on community based resources, or residential care options.
Younger Onset Dementia: a practical guide (Alzheimer’s Australia)
- This publication draws together information on younger onset dementia and provides practical information for those newly diagnosed as well as their families and carers. Sections include: About younger onset dementia, Practical approaches to management of dementia, The caring role and the family, Planning for the future.Other resources.
Dementia – the caring experience (Department of Health and Ageing)
- Dementia – The Caring Experience is designed to help people who are caring for a family member or friend who has dementia. The handbook contains information and ideas, while at the same time recognising that family and carers will have different experiences of caring for a person with dementia.
Living with Dementia (Department of Health and Ageing)
- The Living with Dementia booklet is written for people with dementia. The booklet gives an introduction to memory loss, practical advice on living with dementia, how to tell family and friends and planning for the future.
Online Training Resources
- Part One provides information on Western versus Indigenous concepts of family, life cycle and health. Part Two highlights and discusses culturally appropriate and accessible counselling for Indigenous carers, incorporating discussions on accountability, self-determination, respect for Indigenous ways, counselling environment and building relationships. Part Two further explores key counselling models, in particular systemic family therapy, narrative therapy and to a lesser extent, art therapy.
Talking with your older patient (National Institute on Ageing US)
- A resource for clinicians and health professionals to assist them in communicating successfully with older people and identifying their needs. It also provides advice on communicating with the older person’s family and carers.
Dementia Training Study Centre
- Dementia Training study centres offer a set of freely available and fully online dementia education resources designed by leading academics who are experts in dementia care. The on-line modules aim to improve the knowledge and skills of health professionals working with people who have dementia and their family carers.
ReHSeN (formerly Grampians Loddon Mallee e3 learning)
- This portal is a collaborative venture between Grampians and Loddon-Mallee health services and Grampians home and community care (HACC) agencies. The portal offers a variety of dementia learning resources.
Policies, Strategies and Frameworks
KPMG: Strengthening Dementia Pathways Guide 2011
- This guide was developed as an action item of the National Dementia Initiative. The Dementia Initiative is the Australian Government’s response to addressing the needs of people living with dementia. The guide aims to inform and assist jurisdictions with service planning, by developing service pathways. The guide describes the services required to meet the needs of people living with dementia and their carers across the dementia continuum. Service pathways are useful as a planning tool to encourage key service providers to participate in planning activity and to coordinate service responses.
The National Framework for Action on Dementia 2006-2010. (Australian Health Ministers’ Conference)
- This framework provides a vision for quality dementia care by seeking to address the challenges of the predicted increase in numbers of people with dementia. The Framework has provided an opportunity to create a strategic, collaborative and cost-effective response to dementia across Australia.
Dementia framework for Victoria 2006-2010: Implementation report (Department of Health Victoria)
- This report provides a summary of activities that have occurred across Victoria since the launch of the Dementia framework for Victoria implementation plan in 2006. The activities demonstrate the ongoing and increasing commitment to supporting and providing services for people with dementia and their families and carers.
- This guide supports organisations to implement diversity planning and practice across the Home and Community Care (HACC) program. The guide outlines key concepts and provides information, resources and tools to plan for and improve service responses to diversity within each organisation’s catchment.
- The Regional diversity plan informs the local approach to maximising access to services for the HACC special needs groups, informs the allocation of resources for improved service access and outcomes for diverse people, and influences the diversity plans developed by individual HACC funded agencies.
Research and Evaluation
- The Out of the Shadows Project, undertaken by the Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) aimed to address some of the challenges facing the role of district nurses in the care of people with dementia in the community. This report details the work undertaken in phase two of the project. The objective of phase two was to develop a best practice Model of Care designed to support the needs of district nursing clients with dementia, their families and carers incorporating screening, assessment, management and referral processes.
Timely diagnosis of dementia: Can we do better? (Alzheimer’s Australia)
- This report for Alzheimer’s Australia emphasises the difficulty of diagnosis of dementia and identifies through extensive research the barriers to timely diagnosis. The report provides strategies aimed at reducing the GP and systemic factors with a focus on improving the care that patients receive at the service level.
- This discussion paper for Alzheimer’s Australia looks at the reasons for why a new approach to dementia care is needed. The objective of the recommendations put forward in this paper is to increase flexibility in the provision of respite care so that it is driven more by consumer needs and choice and is less by fixed program structures.