Anglicare Southern Queensland cements position as dementia care specialist
The Not For Profit retirement living, aged care and home care provider has opened its third Specialist Dementia Care Program (SDCP) unit.
The eight-bed facility is located within the E.M. Tooth Residential Aged Care home in Manly, 20km east of the Brisbane CBD. The unit will offer high levels of tailored care for residents with severe behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia who are unable to be effectively cared for in mainstream aged care.
The program is aimed at reducing and/or stabilising symptoms. Individual behaviour support and care plans will be developed and care delivered by specialist nurses and geriatricians, as well as other practitioners.
Length of stay at the DSU is expected to be around 6-12 months on average, with residents expected to move into less intensive care settings.
Anglicare committed $2.5 million to the project, which has been complemented with start-up and operational funding from the Commonwealth Government through an annual $1.1 million Specialist Dementia Care Program Grant.
Learning from experience
The unit cements Anglicare Southern Queensland's as a leader in the field of specialist dementia care.
Anglicare Southern Queensland CEO Sue Cooke said the vital program is the first in South Brisbane.
“Having two established SDCPs under our belt has given us critical insight into what works, and our learnings have shaped every aspect of the new unit,” she said.
The operator opened a SDCU at Abri Residential Aged Care Home on the Gold Coast in May 2025 and at St Martin’s Residential Aged Care Home in North Brisbane in 2020.
Learnings from the first two homes “combined with a dedicated dementia lead overseeing the delivery and clinical management at our SDCP units, means we’re able to deliver consistent, best-practice specialised dementia care,” Sue said.
Freeing up acute care beds
Demand for dementia care is set to skyrocket globally in the coming decades, and Queensland is no exception. There are currently an estimated 85,200 people living with dementia in the state, a figure that is projected to double over the next 3o years.
Sue said the additional SDCU beds will play a vital role in freeing up acute care hospital beds for those who need them, with residential aged care bed shortages creating bottlenecks in hospitals around the country.
As of November 2025, there were more than 900 older patients in Queensland well enough to be discharged from hospital but waiting on places in residential aged care.
Anglicare Southern Queensland has four seniors living communities, delivers home care services, and operates eight aged care homes.
