New details emerge on dementia response teams

The Federal Government’s new Severe Behaviour Response Teams to be introduced midyear will target only residents with very extreme symptoms of dementia, while the Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory Service (DBMAS) will continue to provide more generalist support, a senate estimates hearing has been told.

The Department of Social Services confirmed the new specialist clinical teams would initially work alongside the DBMAS to provide a “top tier of support” to those with the most severe behaviours.

While the DBMAS played an important role in the system, the services were directed at more general and lower-level behaviours, said the department’s acting deputy secretary ageing and aged care, Carolyn Smith.

“What the new Severe Behaviour Response teams are going to address is that small group of residents who have severe behaviours who are not being supported by groups such as DBMAS,” she told the estimates hearing on Thursday.

The department said it anticipated the support teams would respond to a referral within 24 and 48 hours and utilise technology such as videoconferencing to expand the reach of the service.

The Federal Government has arranged a stakeholder workshop for 18 March to further develop the broad details of the model ahead of the competitive tender process, senate estimates heard.

Ms Smith said the department planned to have the teams in place from midyear.

Successful organisations will be offered one-year contracts until mid-2016 when the DBMAS and the Severe Behaviour Response Teams will be integrated. Funding agreements for DBMAS also cease mid-2016.

The difference between the roles of the DBMAS and the Severe Behaviour Response Teams was a key question raised by the sector following the government’s announcement of the dementia program in early February.

Assistant Minister for Social Services Mitch Fifield told the hearing determining how the initiative would operate in regional and rural areas would be a priority for the government and the model would be developed in close consultation with sector stakeholders.

Ms Smith said the department did not want to be too prescriptive in the tender documents because it wanted to permit innovation in the service models proposed by organisations.

Means-testing delays

Elsewhere, the department of social services told senate estimates that administrative delays to means-testing assessments by the Department of Human Services had “largely been resolved”.

Donna Moody group manager, ageing and aged care services, said in the main if people submitted all the information required for a means test then that occurred within the benchmark timeframes.

Ms Smith said in some cases where it was believed that DHS was taking a long time to process an assessment was in fact due to missing information from the individual.

“There were delays last year but those delays are behind us now except in those situations when the individual has not provided the necessary information.

“DHS can only control timeframes where it has all the information it needs to make the assessment and sometimes people are asked for information and they haven’t provided it,” she said.

The department said it would to consult with the DHS to report on the current average time for a means-testing assessment.