Making choices: Future dementia care: projections, problems and preferences

An important consequence of Australian demographic ageing is the rapid increase of the number and proportion of people who have dementia, projected to increase from about 230,000 in 2008, to 465,000 in 2030 and to over 730,000 in 2050. Australia has recognised dementia as a health priority and taken the first steps through the Dementia Initiative to meet the growing challenges of the dementia epidemic.
Ideally, the care continuum for dementia should be a seamless process and carers should be supported in the delay of institutionalisation. The findings of this report also highlight the need for a fundamental rethinking of how to achieve the delivery of flexible dementia services that respond to the needs of the person with dementia and their families and carers.