Dementia is the leading cause of death in older Australians, and people with dementia often experience distressing symptoms and burdensome interventions at the end of life. Dementia Australia estimates that 1.6 million Australians are involved in the care of someone with dementia. Despite this, people living with and dying from dementia are less likely to access palliative care. One reason for this is that traditional models of palliative care, arising from the care of people with cancer, do not meet the needs of people with dementia, due to a prolonged disease trajectory associated with a gradual loss of function over a number of years. The WA Department of Health Churchill Fellowship allowed me to visit multiple clinical, research and community organisations in six countries (USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Ireland, Singapore) in 2022, to explore models of palliative care for people with dementia. This presentation will describe various models of palliative dementia care and outline several common components of these models that may be adapted to Australian settings, such as: care navigation, screening for palliative care needs, monitoring outcomes, care navigation and public health measures.

Presentation Theme: Models of care – implications for the future