Campbell Town Dementia Support Feasibility Study

The Department of Health and Aged Care engaged HMA to conduct a feasibility study of dementia care availability and suitability in Campbell Town, Tasmania and surrounding areas.

Campbell Town Health & Community Services (CTH&CS) is located in central Campbell Town, Tasmania. CTH&CS is a small health service comprising six acute beds, 20 residential care beds, and a range of community services. For funding purposes, CTH&CS is classified as a multipurpose service (MPS), with funding provided through the Australian Government MPS Program for integrated health and aged care services for older Australians living in small communities in regional and remote areas.

The project assessed demand for existing and future services including options for improving dementia care in the Campbell Town region.

Key tasks for this project included:

• identifying dementia services currently operating in the area and undertaking preliminary stakeholder consultation to seek views on the underlying need for access to additional dementia support services
• desktop data analysis to estimate the underlying demand for the range of services identified during the preliminary consultation process
• further stakeholder consultation with a focus on potential issues associated with different models of care, and operational and sustainability issues associated with a range of dementia service development options
• scenario modelling of demand for expanded dementia services based on assumptions of willingness to travel and estimates of target population usage, and
• feasibility assessment of each dementia program service development option comparing overall benefits of the options and overall feasibility of implementation.

The project commenced in January 2023 and was completed in June 2023.