Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was fortunate enough to recently visit the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, the Wicking centre, which is part of the University of Tasmania. The Wicking centre, founded in 2008, is state of the art and is leading the way in dementia research. Not only are we Tasmanians in a fantastic position to be leading the way in dementia research but we are also very fortunate to have this research centre as part of our own University of Tasmania.

The Wicking centre has developed an innovative and comprehensive model. The ISLAND Clinic is nation leading in providing diagnoses for cognitive impairment. The Wicking centre has strong links to organisations such as Dementia Australia for the provision of diagnostic care, as well as the national network of clinics across Australia affiliated with the Australian Dementia Network.

The ISLAND Clinic offers an improved person centred model underpinned by an interdisciplinary approach, evidence based best practice and translational research opportunities. These are now happening at the University of Tasmania through the dementia research that's happening at the Wicking centre. The ISLAND Clinic represents a model that, as I said, has international interests. It not only provides a one-stop shop for achieving a diagnosis but will also bring access to the latest clinical 1 trials, therapeutic drugs and new diagnosis technologies to help the health of the Tasmanian community.

To access the ISLAND Clinic, a referral is required from your GP services, and then you can attend the clinic. You are bulk-billed and there are no out-of-pocket costs passed on to the patient. The clinic is committed to providing timely assessment and diagnosis of cognitive impairment which may or may not be a dementia diagnosis, and an ongoing management plan will be provided to your GP who made that referral in the first place. Anyone who has an interest in dementia research will know that the sooner you are diagnosed, the better that journey is going to be for you and for your loved ones.

The ISLAND Clinic also connects patients with organisations that provide post-diagnostic support such as Dementia Australia. As I mentioned earlier, patients are invited to consent to research related to their issues, helping ISLAND have a better understanding of cognitive issues, as well as dementia. It's so important to have this cohort participating in this very meaningful research, informed by patient experience. That is invaluable for researchers in their work, but also for GPs and the medical fraternity to have a better understanding of dementia and other such issues.

Many clinic attendees become part of the broader ISLAND project which stands for Island Study Linking Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases. It's a distinctive public health initiative which aims to reduce the number of cases and the impact of cases of dementia. ISLAND involves informing and empowering the Tasmanian community to self-manage known risk factors for dementia, which can be prevented, and to make positive changes to the community's health and wellbeing that will reduce the incidence and impact of dementia over time.

Over 14,000 Tasmanians over the age of 50 from across our state have signed up to be part of this program, and the Wicking centre's recent publication has demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach. The Wicking centre is interested in involving Tasmanians as much as possible in this project to help prevent incidences of dementia in the first place and to reduce the impact of dementia once a diagnosis is made. The vision of the ISLAND Clinic is to provide Tasmanians with equitable access to a timely and good standard of assessment, leading to an earlier diagnosis, which increases opportunities to support and manage the condition, enabling comprehensive care and better treatments for dementia in the patient, but also to give added support to their family and carers and to the broader Tasmanian community.

The ISLAND Clinic is linked to the National Dementia Action Plan, which is due to be released this year and has the goal of improving the experience of people with dementia and their carers with a focus of diagnosis and post-diagnostic care, the development of a related workforce and support for carers. The ISLAND Clinic is a member of, and a pilot site for, the National Collaborative Dementia Centre project that is being led by Dementia Australia and serves as an example of a clinic model that could be extended nationally and even internationally.

The NCDCs are modelled on comprehensive clinic settings for other conditions—for instance, cancer—where people can receive a timely diagnosis but are also supported in post-diagnostic care and service coordination with the added benefits of access to personalised clinical trials and the support and training of the related workforce. Recently, the ISLAND Clinic was approached by the New South Wales and Queensland health sectors to discuss a potential replication of the ISLAND model in those states and to encourage it being rolled out. That is fantastic and a real 'hats off' to all the work that's being done down there in Hobart.

The ISLAND Clinic has also been identified as having a potential relationship to the National Dementia Action Plan to improve the state's capacity to enhance dementia care under the long-term plan for health care in Tasmania. What we probably need most in Tasmania around health is a new government, frankly. Tasmania's population, as most people would be aware, is a fast-ageing population. The Tasmanian median age is 42 and the national median is just 38. Our state has the highest rate of dementia in Australia and the highest rate of known risk factors leading to cognitive and memory issues later in life. Tasmania's ageing population does not help reduce these figures. Despite significant risks for dementia, many Tasmanians have only patchy access to services, and diagnosis and care planning remain a challenge. Dementia diagnosis is frequently only made when the disease has advanced and is related to other health conditions, which makes early diagnosis so much more critical.

We already know that our healthcare system in Tasmania is stretched to the limit. There is so much pressure on acute hospitals around the state and we don't want to see a continuation of the situation where, on average, someone with dementia will end up in an acute hospital, taking one of those critical beds for 15.9 days, compared to other treatments, where you stay for just 2.7 days. The lack of diagnosis of dementia is associated with the increased risk of hospital admissions as well as increased length of stay.

I want to give a big-shout out to those people doing this really important work and research and to Professor James Vickers for his leadership in managing the centre. The collaboration that's taking place with GPs, who have now got a clinic to refer patients to for an earlier diagnosis, is fantastic, but what they need is funding to ensure that this clinic can continue, because the demand for those services is growing. In summary, and in reiterating how crucial the Wicking Centre and ISLAND Clinic are to Tasmania and the nation, I will be calling on my government to help them.