Tracking wristbands to monitor aged, carers

Australian dementia patients could soon be issued with tracking wristbands to monitor their movements if they go missing from aged care facilities.

Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, today announced the department is exploring the use of tracking wristbands to help monitor dementia patients in aged care facilities.

The tracking wristbands are being considered as a part of proposed requirements for Australia's 3,600 aged care providers to report missing patients to the Department of Health and Ageing after informing police — aged care providers previously have not been required to report missing patients. The minister hopes that by monitoring missing persons, the department will be better able to track service levels at each facility.

"This is a complex matter; it is about ensuring providers are fulfilling their duty of care to residents, while supporting residents' rights to come and go — which is part of maintaining their quality of life," Elliot said.

While Elliot hopes to implement the reporting system by the end of the year, there is no scheduled date for issuing the tracking wristbands. According to a spokesperson for the minister, no specific technologies have been assessed yet.

Chair of the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF), Roger Clarke, criticised the plans to use technology to provide care.

"I'm very concerned that this is an abandonment of human care in favour of automated care... It means we're not able to or prepared to allocate resources and treat people as people," he told ZDNet.com.au.

"It's seriously demeaning for human beings, dementia sufferers or not. There are a range of ways in which protection and management of people with aged dementia can be cared for and watched over."

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dementia tracing wrist band Anonymous -- 02/06/08

My husband sufferes from dementia and has been a patient to a nursing home for three years and in that time has wandered three times and the nursing home takes no responsability for that first it caused a heart attack the second was wandering due to thrist so he went to the shops the third he crossed a major road twice just to get fly spray any normal person would take a chance to cross Ennis Ave in Rockingham W.A yet they still don't take responsability why why?

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Dementia Katie Doe -- 03/06/08

The first comment is from my mother she is at her wits end with the so call "dedication" that the workers of Bert England Nursing Home in ROCKINGHAM WESTERN AUSTRALIA have. the road that she is talking about is not just any road it is a 4 lane highway! it has controlled lights meaning the green man / red man .... my father has not got this thought structure in his mind anymore he has the mental capacity of a young child. even that road was hard for me to cross and I am a 28 year old woman and that was brisk walking and even then the green man went red! its all beside the point really because the the staff at BERT ENGLAND GET PAID TO CARE FOR PATIENTS but they are not CARING they are turning a blind eye. having talked to the director of nursing myself she states she and her staff have no responsibility over my dads wandering. I THINK THEY DO because they were told of his wandering tendencies therefore my father should not have access to the wander outside the grounds. I TOTALLY APPROVE OF THESE BANDS as they will only HELP not HINDER the patients. they are a BLOODY Good idea since someone or something has to look after these patients because god knows what the nurses get paid for but its certainly not CARING!

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sue them for negligence Anonymous -- 03/06/08 (in reply to #320103166)

you know you could sue them for negligence then maybe they will wake up to themselves!!!! you could sue the company and the DON herself and any caretaker that "cares " for your father. I am sure that if you voice your concerns to a lawyer one of those win and pay ones they will grasp this with both hands

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Retract Comment Katie Doe -- 04/06/08

I was notified today that I should retract my comment so obviously the nursing home has something to worry about!!! at the present moment I have talked to my legal team and they say I do have something to go on as it is purely negligence! as for RETRACTING my comment suffer! I am not retracting it nor am I apologising for it! if you have a problem with it ask my mother for my mob number . Your'e worried about my comment haha that is the least of your worries if my father is injured /killed due to your NEGLIGENCE!

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wristbands Anonymous -- 07/06/08

I was unaware that this lodge was a nursing home, we had our grandmother in there and it was hostel care. We couldnt speak highly enough of the care we recieved for nan. Maybe you could buy a wristband and take your farther home to a enviroment that you would be more happier with. The carers pension is about seventy dollars a week, that may help a bit.

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