Summary
This report Dementia in New Zealand: Improving Quality in Residential Care (the Dementia Care Report) provides recommendations from the Dementia Working Group on improving the quality of residential care for people with dementia.
The Ministry of Health supports the recommendations listed in the report and agrees with the working group’s assessment of the impact of dementia on people’s lives, and the subsequent importance of:
- early diagnosis through high quality assessment
- appropriate intervention through therapies and activities
- an active partnership between family carers and professionals
- high quality residential care through improved training, staffing, restraint and medication practices, and other measures outlined in the Dementia Care Report.
Existing work programmes within the Ministry are already progressing many of the recommendations made in this report. In particular, the development of new nationally consistent residential aged-care contracts by 1 June 2002 will provide increased prescription in terms of service quality, with greater accountability through stronger auditing and monitoring provisions.
