Education & Training

With dementia impacting over half of aged care residents, proactive strategy is critical. Discover how evidence-based education from Dementia Training Australia empowers frontline “dementia detectives,” reduces workforce burnout, and equips leaders to manage operational and clinical risks effectively.

New research from UQ shows physical frailty can bring forward a dementia diagnosis by up to six years, giving aged care leaders a clear chance to act early.

No national Human Rights Act. No registration scheme for aged care workers. And no consensus on mandatory reporting. Elder abuse exposes governance gaps operators can’t outsource to policy – leaving boards to close them in the meantime.

Australia’s aged care sector is under pressure, and the workforce shortage is only growing. Training is one of the most effective tools we have to address it, and flexible, accessible pathways are making it easier than ever for people to step up.

Are your residents’ wills genuinely sound? A DIY will kit may look like a convenient fix, but for older Australians with property, superannuation and layered family arrangements, there is more at stake than a signature on a template.

IDDSI standardised texture-modified food and thickened fluids across aged care, changing how risk is described. But safety language alone hasn’t fixed rosters, training or communication pathways – and Standard 6 now demands the operating model catch up.

Aged care providers ask where the money will come from before asking whether their kitchen system is already wasting it. Poor design costs more than budgets do – through waste, rework, complaints and burnt-out chefs carrying risk no one else sees.

A CEO’s line – aged care can survive, but not run like it’s 1985 – sent Lindsay O’Grady back to 1986: the year he started as a chef. Forty years on, the kitchen has changed. But has the model around it changed enough?

RFBI has spent four years and significant capital building housing for 285 overseas nurses and carers. The program’s entire foundation rests on one federal mechanism. This raises questions about policy risk, sourcing ethics, and board-level contingency planning that other providers haven’t yet answered.

Registered nurse Jo Russell spent a decade trapped in a cycle of care burnout. Her experience highlights the trap that many high-performing workers face – and why it’s costing providers.