The Specialist Dementia Care Program: Describing and evaluating a novel model of care for people with severe and intractable behaviors in Australia.

A small proportion of people living with dementia experience very severe and intractable behaviors that cannot be supported by mainstream aged care. As a result, this population often rotates between acute, mental health, and aged care settings, and is at increased risk of inappropriate psychotropic prescribing and hospitalization. This led the Australian Government to announce in 2016 the funding for 35 Specialist Dementia Care Program Units (SDCPUs) across Australia.