Abbott spending like a drunken sailor looking for scrap metal in the Indian Ocean meanwhile ...


Up to 80 per cent of dementia patients in aged care facilities restrained with psychotropic drugs: report

A new study produced by Alzheimer's Australia suggests up to 80 per cent of dementia patients in aged care facilities are being treated with psychotropic drugs.

The report, to be released today, suggests only one in five dementia patients receive any benefit from taking such medication.

Alzheimer's Australia says the use of drugs in nursing homes is excessive and has called for reform of the sector.

Lateline has previously revealed that up to 6,000 elderly Australians could be dying prematurely each year because of the misuse of psychotropic drugs in aged care facilities.

Alzheimer's Australia CEO Glenn Rees says about 140,000 nursing home residents are being sedated and restrained with the drugs.

"For people with dementia in residential care - and remember that people with dementia account for 50 per cent of residents - about 80 per cent will be on restraint at some time or other," he said.

"Restraint can be necessary and as an organisation we accept that physical restraint in some circumstances and medical restraint are necessary but we think it should be the last resort not the first resort."

But the aged care industry argues they've been following the advice of medical professionals.

"It's not the aged care facility that does the diagnosis nor prescribes the medication, so within that they're acting on the ability or the information from the clinical pathway from a doctor on that recommendation," Leading Age Services Australia CEO Patrick Reid said.

But Mr Rees says there are alternatives to medication.

"There are a number of things that can be done to reduce restraint," he said.

"One is to adapt the physical environment so it's less confusing and less noisy. Another is to give a person activities and a sense of purpose in life, whether it's rehabilitation, social activities, physical recreation.

"Another is to adopt person-centred care approaches so that the care staff can relate better to the individual and know their personal histories."

Mr Reid says the industry is open to change.

"Any changes to environment, whether it be the built environment, the culture and other things, are important," he said.

"Certainly many of the refurbishments we are seeing in aged care, about 60 per cent of new buildings are around improving that environment. So I think it is a positive.

"Certainly we would embrace that and my members do embrace those approaches and are trying very hard to make sure everyone is treated as well as they can be and with their dignity and respect."

A Senate committee has been hearing evidence about the overuse of psychotropic drugs in aged care facilities.

The committee will hand down its recommendations today.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/alzheimers-psychotropic-drugs/5345322

Abbott hates old people, they don't contribute to his 2% projected growth over the next five years. If he could, he would snuff them all out and close the nursing homes, they're a drain on the economy.

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Mar 26^th, 2014 at 5:40am:

Abbott hates old people, they don't contribute to his 2% projected growth over the next five years. If he could, he would snuff them all out and close the nursing homes, they're a drain on the economy.

nah nah nah pansi that was gillard remember

dont give them a pay rise they dont VOTE for us..

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

i was thinking maybe Abbott could donate greenwhines brain to science in the hope of discovering a cure for dementia..

hes a worth donor lets be honest....very forgetful...


like so many lefties..all have bad memories.. ;) ;) ;)

cods wrote on Mar 26^th, 2014 at 7:31am:

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Mar 26th, 2014 at 5:40am: Abbott hates old people, they don't contribute to his 2% projected growth over the next five years. If he could, he would snuff them all out and close the nursing homes, they're a drain on the economy. nah nah nah pansi that was gillard remember dont give them a pay rise they dont VOTE for us.. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D i was thinking maybe Abbott could donate greenwhines brain to science in the hope of discovering a cure for dementia.. hes a worth donor lets be honest....very forgetful... like so many lefties..all have bad memories.. ;) ;) ;)

So your denial of the issue and your post reveals you know abbott is an opposition leader PM and is void on policy in this area.

And you support this neglect.

Shame cods, Shame.

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Mar 26^th, 2014 at 5:40am:

Abbott hates old people, they don't contribute to his 2% projected growth over the next five years. If he could, he would snuff them all out and close the nursing homes, they're a drain on the economy.

Bigot?  Liar? Both?  I'm not sure I can make up my mind on this one Pansi.

This issue has been around long before Abbott came in, so anyone hoping to use this issue to make political mileage for their party of preference is either disingenuous or an actual politician. (That meaning, they talk up crap like this as their daily job, without the slightest hint of a blush of embarrassment)

It is basically about money, anyone who has ever looked after a dementia sufferer knows it is a massively labour intensive role.
In Nursing Home situations, they need to use, or as some argue quite fairly, overuse, drugs to manage these patients.
Personally I do not have any great issue with the current system, as dementia patients being zonked out on drugs is no great tragedy for them, as they actually need to be when they are going through angry, anti-social changes as part of the process of deterioration that most seem to go through.
My main concern is that maybe they are left on these medications longer than necessary, but that is just an impression of my own, not something I can support with empirical evidence.

If we were to pour in extra funding, to supply the extra medical and nursing staff required to manage and care for dementia patients instead of relying upon drugs to mollify patients, we would need to decide which other area we can take the funding from.

With all the worthwhile medical areas that need to be funded, and with due respect to the needs of dementia sufferers, I really do not think we need to make the seeking of higher spending in this area as something that either political party should attack the other over.

Who put you up to this one greens?

Christine milne probably, shes heading to a nursing home soon judging by the wrinkles and the obvious mental decline

It's not an age thing; Bandt, Hanson-Dumb and a few other Greenies should all be in a dementia ward too.

____ wrote on Mar 26^th, 2014 at 7:41am:

cods wrote on Mar 26th, 2014 at 7:31am: Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Mar 26th, 2014 at 5:40am: Abbott hates old people, they don't contribute to his 2% projected growth over the next five years. If he could, he would snuff them all out and close the nursing homes, they're a drain on the economy. nah nah nah pansi that was gillard remember dont give them a pay rise they dont VOTE for us.. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D i was thinking maybe Abbott could donate greenwhines brain to science in the hope of discovering a cure for dementia.. hes a worth donor lets be honest....very forgetful... like so many lefties..all have bad memories.. ;) ;) ;) So your denial of the issue and your post reveals you know abbott is an opposition leader PM and is void on policy in this area. And you support this neglect. Shame cods, Shame.

greenie I have a grand daughter who has worked in aged care for many years at least 10 and its always been the same.... she said then and she says it now.

You! meaning me.. are never going in one of those places...and shes worked in them all in ACT.....

blame ABbott all you like.. but when was the last time you spent time in a dementia ward?????>.its getting worse because we are living longer..

your memory is already going... b etter have that dementia test NOW>

Once again the Nordic states show how it should be done.

A society instead individual greed


Quote:

Centuries after Shakespeare wrote about King Lear’s symptoms, there’s still no perfect way to care for sufferers of dementia and Alzheimer’s. In the Netherlands, however, a radical idea is being tested: self-contained “villages” where people with dementia shop, cook and live together — safely. We, as a population, are ageing rapidly. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in three seniors today dies with dementia. The process of finding — and paying for — long-term care can be very confusing, unfortunately, and difficult for both loved ones and patients. Most caretakers are underpaid, overworked, and must drive far distances to their jobs — giving away some 17 billion unpaid hours of care a year. And it’s just going to get worse: Alzheimer’s has increased by an incredible 68 per cent since 2000, and the cost of caring for sufferers will increase from $US203 billion last year to $US1.2 trillion by 2050. In short, we’re not prepared for the future that awaits us — financially, infrastructurally, or even socially. But in the small town of Weesp, in Holland — that bastion of social progressivism — at a dementia-focused living center called De Hogeweyk, aka Dementiavillage, the relationship between patients and their care is serving as a model for the rest of the world. Hogeweyk, from a certain perspective, seems like a fortress: A solid podium of apartments and buildings, closed to the outside world with gates and security fences. But, inside, it is its own self-contained world: Restaurants, cafes, a supermarket, gardens, a pedestrian boulevard, and more. The idea, explains Hogeweyk’s creators, is to design a world that maintains as much a resemblance to normal life as possible — without endangering the patients. For example, one common symptom is the urge to roam, often without warning, which had led most “memory units” and dementia care centres to institute a strict lock-down policy. In one German town, an Alzheimer’s care center event set up a fake bus stop to foil wandering residents. At Hogeweyk, the interior of the security perimeter is its own little village — which means that patients can move about as they wish without being in danger. Each apartment hosts six to eight people, including caretakers — who wear street clothes — and the relationship between the two is unique. Residents help with everything from cooking to cleaning. They can buy whatever they want from the grocery. They can get their hair done or go to a restaurant. It’s those basic routines and rituals that can help residents maintain a better quality of living. “The fact that a resident cannot function ‘normally’ in certain areas, being handicapped by dementia, does not mean that they no longer have a valid opinion on their day to day life and surroundings,” say administrators. People with dementia often struggle with unfamiliar spaces, colours, and even decor. At Hogeweyk, apartments are designed to reach familiar cultural touchstones, categorized into six basic “genres” of design: “goois” or upperclass (the decor looks old fashioned), homey, Christian, artisan, Indonesian, and cultural. Each apartment is different, catered to a particular lifestyle, right down to the silverware and furniture. “Living in lifestyles,” explains Hogeweyk, “just like before.” Hogeweyk was designed by Dutch architects Molenaar&Bol&VanDillen, but it was the brainchild of Yvonne van Amerongen, a caregiver who has worked with memory patients for decades. Starting in the early 1990s, van Amerongen and a group of like-minded caregivers began researching and designing a type of home where residents would participate in life, the same way they did before they entered a dementia care unit. Hogeweyk, which opened in 2009, was the culmination of that work — but according to The New York Times, interest from companies in other European countries and America might soon bring the same approach to our shores. In fact, in Switzerland, a similar “village” has already opened — this one mimics life in the 1950s. After all, the booming ageing runs parallel to a boom in construction — thousands of nursing homes and new memory care units will be built over the next few decades. And how they’re designed could affect every person reading this. What Hogeweyk reveals is the culturallyingrained way we distinguish between those who do and don’t suffer from dementia. By treating residents as normal people, Hogeweyk seems to suggest that there isn’t such a huge difference, deep down — just differing needs. By designing a city tailored to those unique needs, residents avoid the dehumanisation that long-term medical care can unintentionally cause. On the village’s site, a quote from Italo Calvino’s 1978 Invisible Cities drives it home: “They already have experienced a night like this, and they were happy then.”

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19g6wqilehekujpg/original.jpg

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19g6vk5enl1cgjpg/original.jpg

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19g6wqench7dcjpg/original.jpg

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/02/inside-an-amazing-village-designed-just-for-people-with-dementia/

But hey telling me it's all right to call you an OLD JEW DOG & giving mates archaic titles far more important & good government.

True smithy , I am a great admirer of the Nordic states and I welcome all boats full of Swedish, finnish and Norwegian university graduates to our shores and I would even build a bridge from Christmas island to the mainland to ensure their swift arrival.

Numpties with no social skills, no manners, backward donkey riding , woman hating jihhadists .......
They will be taking the turn off marked Manus island

aquascoot wrote on Mar 26^th, 2014 at 8:30am:

True smithy , I am a great admirer of the Nordic states and I welcome all boats full of Swedish, finnish and Norwegian university graduates to our shores and I would even build a bridge from Christmas island to the mainland to ensure their swift arrival. Numpties with no social skills, no manners, backward donkey riding , woman hating jihhadists ....... They will be taking the turn off marked Manus island

Funny thing Aquascoot, the reverse would not be the same, because the Nordic countries have little time for small minded bigotry, or it's exponents.
I wouldn't hold my breath for an invite from them if I held views like you.

mozzaok wrote on Mar 26^th, 2014 at 9:05am:

aquascoot wrote on Mar 26th, 2014 at 8:30am: True smithy , I am a great admirer of the Nordic states and I welcome all boats full of Swedish, finnish and Norwegian university graduates to our shores and I would even build a bridge from Christmas island to the mainland to ensure their swift arrival. Numpties with no social skills, no manners, backward donkey riding , woman hating jihhadists ....... They will be taking the turn off marked Manus island Funny thing Aquascoot, the reverse would not be the same, because the Nordic countries have little time for small minded bigotry, or it's exponents. I wouldn't hold my breath for an invite from them if I held views like you.

[smiley=tekst-toppie.gif] [smiley=thumbsup.gif] [smiley=thumbup.gif]

The one redeeming feature of our "I want to pay no tax but the Government owes me a reward for success" society.

Is the apathy & greed shown by quite a few of our conservative posters here will come back to bite them.

Dementia & Alzheimer’s do not distinguish between rich & poor, & children learn social values from their parents.

So as they lie in their 3 day old soiled sheets in an over crowded understaffed home, intimidated by under trained & overworked staff after being thrown in there by children more concerned about cost than anything else.

1 can only hope a moment of clarity & realisation that their own selfish attitude caused their final years of misery & fear happens before their final breath.

Tony.. aar.. is already ..eerrrmm.. well on the uuhh.. way... it's a.. errrmm.. natural ah.. thing for ummmm.. some.

Symptoms: Difficulty remembering names and recent events is often an early clinical symptom; apathy and depression are also often early symptoms. Later symptoms include impaired judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes and difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.