The article reports on the plan of Dementia Training Australia (DTA) to launch the first statewide rollout of its virtual reality (VR)-based workshop, Meaningful Spaces, in Western Australia in November 2021. Topics include the use of VR by the workshop to enable healthcare workers to experience the life of a person living with dementia and success of the Meaningful Spaces resource piloted by DTA in a series of workshops in 2019.

The article features the Dementia Australia Advisory Committee (DAAC), a group made up of people living with dementia. Topics discussed include the function of the committee, background on its launching in 2013, and the meetings being held by the committee. Also mentioned are the activities of the DAAC including their involvement in Dementia Australia’s Dementia Action Week 2020 campaign, research engagement, and their collaboration with the Dementia Australia Consumer Engagement team.

The authors share the learning from asking multicultural providers how they facilitate access to dementia services for clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Topics discussed include importance of good communication to boundary crossing, services that acted as cultural brokers between communities and the aged care system, and factor that made it easier for families to recognise the benefits of residential aged care.

The article features Australia’s Dementia Center for Research Collaboration (DCRC) Changed Behaviors Special Interest Group (Sig) which aims to promote inclusivity and multidisciplinary collaboration to better understand changed behaviors and improve care for people living with dementia, families and care partners. Topics include goal of the SiG, the emergence of changed behaviors during the course of dementia, and information on the initial SiG meeting and workshop.

The author reflects on the achievements of the Australia’s Caring for Cognitive Impairment Campaign five years after its launch in 2016. She talks about the purpose of launching the campaign, an essential part of providing better person-centred care, and an example of how a project lead, education of clinical and non-clinical hospital staff, a patient and family-centred approach, and communication can improve patient outcomes

The article identifies the key factors relating to care staff that lead to good quality of care and quality of life for residents with dementia. Topics discussed include importance of the quality of care provided by staff to the quality of residents’ lives, the need to scrutinise the focus, timeliness and quality of the qualifications or training courses, and recommendations to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.