With over 20 years’ experience in the Aged Care and Disability sectors, Nikki has held diverse roles across community and organisational leadership in senior management positions. Nikki currently serves as General Manager of Client Services within Dementia Australia, overseeing national client programs. Nikki holds a particular passion for community-based support to enable independence, with a strong focus on governance and human rights approaches.
Nikki leads a team of skilled, passionate and dedicated Dementia Specialists, to deliver high quality support and care to people impacted by dementia, within the disciplines of counselling, post diagnostic support, education and respite programs. Her work includes strategic development, governance, quality improvement and stakeholder engagement.
Working together to improve outcomes for those living with dementia
Precis
Currently there are over 433,000 Australians living with dementia, and more than 1.7 million involved in their care. These rates are expected to double by 2050, making dementia one of the biggest health and social challenges facing Australia today. With 55% of residents in facilities having a dementia diagnosis, and two thirds of people with dementia living in the community, it is a condition that affects us all.
For the first time, dementia care is front and centre at all levels of society and government. The launch of a 10-year National Dementia Action Plan (2024-2034) highlights Australia’s shared vision to make real change to ‘help people living with dementia, their carers and families have the best quality of life possible’ (NDAP, 2024).
The strengthened Aged Care Standards also focus strongly on high quality, person-centred dementia care, including the need for dementia training for staff. However, the question remains, can we achieve this shared vision if we tackle dementia care in silos?
Dementia Australia is attempting to break down these silos by working alongside funded services, to assist both their clients and staff to understand this complex condition and learn strategies to support those impacted by it. Using real-life case studies, this presentation will explore how Dementia Australia has assisted providers, family carers, and those living with dementia to achieve positive and lasting outcomes through collaboration, education, and a truly multi-disciplinary approach.
By showcasing the many dementia supports available to both the sector (such as formal training and live problem-solving tools) and individuals impacted by dementia (including individual or family counselling and tailored post-diagnostic support), the presentation aims to explore how high quality, person-centred services, such as Dementia Australia, can provide meaningful support to people living with dementia, their families, and the aged care staff who support them.
Leveraging this renewed focus on dementia care in Australia, this presentation points to how we can work together to make a real and lasting difference to everyone impacted by dementia, and position Australia as a world leader in high quality, collaborative, and person led, dementia care.