Better palliative care needed for dementia sufferers
Palliative Care Australia (PCA) is calling for better access to appropriate palliative care for the 353,800 Australians living with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.
With dementia set to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in Australia, there’s a pressing need for the appropriate levels of care being made available for patients. But many seniors are missing out as a results of both dementia and Alzheimer’s disease not being recognised as a terminal condition by the medical industry.
PCA chief executive Liz Callaghan said, “Dementia is different from other terminal conditions because of the long, unpredictable course of the disease, difficult issues around capacity for decision making, difficulties in communication and lack of community understanding of the disease
“They may also be missing important opportunities to identify their wishes through an advance care plan. This could be done early in the diagnosis and act as a guide for family as they have to make decisions about their loved one’s care.”
Communication issues are one of the chief barriers stopping Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers from getting the appropriate level of care so the PCA is encouraging Australians to start talking about the issue with their family now.
Ms Callaghan added, “We encourage Australians to talk more about death, dying and their end-of-life wishes… Unless we have those conversations, we could put our families under considerable strain when they have to make choices for us, without really knowing what we want.”
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