Measure 1.2: Increased access to and understanding of supported decision making for all people living with dementia, including for First Nations, CALD, and other diverse communities
Supported decision making is when people receive help to make decisions about their own lives. The decision making is supported, but the decision is theirs (Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission 2018). For people with cognitive impairments or communication difficulties due to dementia, the need for support to make and communicate decisions may be higher. Early conversations with legal and financial advisors provide opportunities to make preferences and wishes known, regardless of how the disease progresses. Supported decision making provided to people from diverse communities such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds also needs to be culturally appropriate.
Some data are available from Dementia Australia to provide some insight into this measure of progress. However, further data development is needed to capture access to, and understanding of, supported decision making by people living with dementia.
Recommendations for external legal or financial advice from the National Dementia Helpline
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Indicator
Number of contacts to the National Dementia Helpline who received a recommendation for external legal or financial advice.
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Baseline value
1,325 contacts in 2023–24
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Latest value
Baseline value only
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Progress
To be provided in future updates
The desired outcome is an increase in the number of people seeking relevant legal and financial advice. This indicator only relates to recommendations for advice, and there is currently no information on whether people received financial or legal advice after the recommendation was made.
Change over time
Future updates of this report will track changes over time for this indicator.
Historical change over time: 2022–23 to 2023–24
There was a decrease in the number of contacts to the National Dementia Helpline who received a recommendation for external legal or financial advice, from 1,482 in 2022–23 to 1,325 in 2023–24.
These data come from Dementia Australia.
Dementia Australia collect data for the purposes of understanding their clientele, what groups in Australia seek or do not seek their supports, and to meet internal and external reporting requirements. While data from Dementia Australia can provide insights on the use of dementia support programs, collecting complete data is not the main task or priority during certain interactions, such as calls to the National Dementia Helpline when a caller is experiencing a level of distress, for example. As such, Dementia Australia data is only indicative of services provided.
This indicator is the number of contacts to the National Dementia Helpline who received a recommendation for external legal or financial advice in 2023–24. Clients include people living with dementia or their carers or family who have contacted the National Dementia Helpline for support or information. There is currently no information on whether people received the recommended advice.
The indicator is presented as a raw number because there are currently no suitable denominator data that represent the total number in the target population.
National data on people accessing dementia-specific support programs is needed to better understand enablers and barriers to accessing supports, and to provide more detailed demographic information.
For more information, see the Technical notes.
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (2018) Guidance and resources for providers to support the Aged Care Quality Standards, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, Australian Government, accessed 6 October 2025.