NHMRC - Alzheimer's Australia Joint Workshop on improving dementia care through research translation

We would like to extend our thanks to the presenters and participants at today’s workshop on priorities and strategies for translating research evidence into improved dementia care nationwide.

As we heard from the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler MP, dementia represents one of the greatest challenges for Australia, as our population ages and the need for effective and high quality dementia care grows.

There is no question that a great deal of research still needs to done to understand the causes, prevention and treatment of dementia. However, we must also make maximum use of the research evidence we already have, to achieve better outcomes for the people who are living with dementia and equally importantly, their carers.

NHMRC and Alzheimer’s Australia are proud to work together to continue to emphasise the crucial role that the translation of evidence into practice plays in meeting the emerging challenge of dementia.

Through this workshop, we have been able to reinforce the importance of involving consumers to understand the experiences and needs of the people who will ultimately benefit from the development of care and prevention strategies.

We thank the eighty participants - researchers, clinicians, aged care service providers, consumers, community organisations and policy makers - who came together to jointly identify priorities and opportunities.

We look forward to considering the ideas and suggestions made at today’s workshop. A report on the outcomes of the workshop will be available in the near future.

 

Professor Warwick Anderson AM                                                        Mr Glenn Rees                         Chief Executive Officer                                                                          Chief Executive Officer NHMRC                                                                                                   Alzheimer’s Australia