SA govt partners with HammondCare for new dementia facility

SA Health has teamed up with aged care provider HammondCare to build and deliver a cottage-style specialist dementia care facility in a village-like environment.

From left: Steven Marshall, Stephen Wade and Dr Stephen Judd

SA Health has teamed up with aged care provider HammondCare to build and deliver a cottage-style specialist dementia care facility in a village-like environment.

HammondCare will build a 78-bed specialist dementia facility at the Repat Health Precinct in Daw Park, Adelaide, to care for people dementia who have complex care needs.

The new facility features four dementia-specific cottages each housing 15 permanent residents in single bedrooms with ensuites and domestic-style kitchens.

It also includes two cottages each housing nine people, which will become the state’s first Specialist Dementia Care Units under the Federal Government’s Specialist Dementia Care Program supporting people experiencing very severe symptoms of dementia.

SA Health said the facility was an important step in implementing the Oakden Response statewide model of care to provide best-practice services for South Australians living with dementia.

HammondCare is looking forward to building a 78-place service to support people with complex care needs in a village-like environment, chief executive Dr Stephen Judd said.

“Instead of the large institutional approach that simply doesn’t work for people with dementia, residents in the new care homes will benefit from the small, domestic residential care model shown by research to be the most effective way to deliver dementia care – with fewer hospitalisations and better quality of life,” Dr Judd said.

Clinical and institutional aspects of the facility including offices, parking and equipment will be hidden to maximise domestic familiarity for residents.

Research and HammondCare’s learnings from more than 25 years of building dementia-specific residential aged care cottages in New South Wales and Victoria will inform the design of the cottages.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to create a centre of dementia care excellence in South Australia, ensuring the state’s most vulnerable community members can live with dignity and quality of life,” Dr Judd said.

A concept plan will be developed in the coming months to confirm the final design.

“HammondCare understands the importance of the SA Repat site and its history and this will inform aspects of the final design,” Dr Judd said.

The SDCP is establishing 35 units around the country with at least one in every Primary Health Network, to care for people experiencing very severe behaviours and to hopefully support them back into mainstream homes.

Western Australian aged care provider Brightwater Care Group began operating the first SDCU in September.

The government announced in March 2019 that HammondCare won the tender to build SDCUs in Caulfield, Victoria, and Cardiff, NSW, which are due to be operational in early 2020.

Also in March, the government opened the tender process for 12 additional PHNs including Adelaide.

The Department of Health has commenced negotiations with applicants to establish units in Australian Capital Territory, Brisbane North, Brisbane South, Northern Queensland and North Western Melbourne, according to department’s website.

Related coverage

Brightwater to pilot specialist dementia units

Consultation underway to support specialist dementia program

$70m a year for high need dementia network

Applications open for specialist dementia units

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Tags: behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, bpsd, department-of-health, dr-stephen-judd, hammondcare, mitcham council, news-8, primary health network, sa health, sdcp, slider, stephen-judd, stephen-wade, steven marshall,

1 thought on “SA govt partners with HammondCare for new dementia facility

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