Queensland Better Practice in aged care
12th June 2006
Ensuring residents get a good night's sleep, managing complex behaviours due to dementia, addressing the needs of residents of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. These are just a few of the challenges facing staff in nursing homes across Queensland and indeed, Australia.
The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency Ltd is holding a Better Practice event in Brisbane this week to share information with nursing homes to help improve the quality of care they provide to older Australians.
Better Practice is both a celebration of excellence in aged care, and practical advice on implementing programs that contribute to an improvement in the quality of care provided to residents.
The event will be held at the Hilton Brisbane on Thursday and Friday, 13 and 14 July.
Guest speakers include Sallyanne Atkinson who will challenge the conference on the future of aged care: what should aged care of the future look like?
Ms Atkinson is Chair of the Minister's Dementia National Health Priority Taskforce as well as a Company Director, and Special Representative for Queensland in South East Asia.
"We need more public discussion about ageing, death and dying, and issues such as dementia. It's not a dirty word," says Ms Atkinson.
"I don't necessarily want to be looked after by my five children in my old age. I want to keep my independence. We need person centred planning to nurture and encourage independence in old age and give people choice."
Around 300 delegates from the aged care industry in Queensland will attend the event, to hear speakers talking about today's issues in aged care homes, including:
- Complementary and other medicines - tai chi at Wishart Village and massage at St Paul de Chartres Residential Aged Care, Boronia Heights
- Sleep - The Toowoomba Health Service District and Toowoomba Base Hospital
- Dementia behaviour management - providing a life worth living for residents living with dementia - Mercy Aged Care Services and Groundwater Lodge, Granville
- Cultural and linguistic diversity - Indigenous geriatric care at Mt Kooyong Home and transcultural mental health issues in aged care - Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre
- Restraint - helpful or harmful? Princess Alexandra Hospital
- Strategic planning - Tricare
The Chief Executive Officer of the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency, Mark Brandon, said this year's Better Practice series will place particular emphasis on evidence-based practice.
"It is all about the industry sharing their success stories and talking about ways to improve care provided to older Australians," Mr Brandon said.
"We want to not only know what works to improve the lives of residents but why. These presentations are based on actual evidence that demonstrate results that can be adapted and applied in other areas of aged care."
"The Agency's Better Practice events attract the people who have the capacity to bring about change for the better, such as registered nurses, directors of nursing, personal care workers, diversional therapists, catering and cleaning staff and managers of homes. These are the people who have the capacity to 'make the difference' Mr Brandon said.
For a full program or further information about the events, visit www.accreditation.org.au or call (02) 8831 1028.
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To arrange an interview with Sallyanne Atkinson, call one of the numbers below:
For media enquiries, contact:
For more information, contact Mrs Elliot's office on (02) 6277 7280
Chris Falvey, GM Corporate Affairs, (02) 8831 1088 / 0419 016079
Maria Theoharous, Senior Corporate Affairs Officer, (02) 8831 1016
