Victorian group Elder Rights Advocacy revealed it has received an increased number of calls from people in regional Victoria reporting issues for people with dementia.

Chief executive Michael Gourlay said many callers to the service complained of a need for better access to specialist dementia care.

“In recent times, across regional Victoria including Ballarat, we have seen a marked increase in calls to our service with people complaining about care planning issues and quality of care,” he said. 

“A common complaint to our service is that staff in aged care facilities don’t have enough time to spend with residents, that staff are constantly rushed off their feet and under pressure.

“When staff in aged care facilities don’t have the time they need to spend with residents, it affects the quality of care in many ways, including individual care planning for each resident.”

There are an estimated 436,366 Australians currently living with dementia, according to Dementia Australia statistics. 

Without a medical breakthrough, the number of people with dementia is expected to increase to 589,807 by 2028 and 1,076,129 by 2058, statistics reveal. 

Ballarat dementia advocate Anne Tudor said most people are now entering residential aged care with higher needs than ever before. 

“The issue of most concern is the ratio of staff to residents. There are fewer and fewer qualified or trained staff looking after more and more residents who need more help in so many different ways,” she said. 

“If you haven’t got the staff there, then they are not going to spend the time they need to spend on, for example, feeding a person with dementia. 

“Someone with dementia eats their food very slowly and they can't feed themselves. If a staff members has to feed a number of people, often what happens is the meal doesn’t get eaten and the meal is thrown out.”

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