Dementia care bed shortage “tip of the iceberg”

New Zealand’s rapidly growing dementia challenge is far wider and far more serious than a shortage of dementia care beds, says the head of Alzheimers NZ. 

Chief Executive Catherine Hall was responding to media reports of people with dementia being moved out of their local communities into care beds in other regions because of shortages in parts of the country. 

“This is an indictment on the lack of planning and funding in our health and aged care systems, and causes major distress to thousands of families. 

“But it’s also just the tip of the dementia care iceberg,” she says. 

“The reality is that dementia is creating multiple serious, unresolved and largely ignored pressures for tens of thousands of New Zealanders and their families.” 

There are around 83,000 New Zealanders living with dementia now, a figure projected to more than double in coming years. 

Within that rapidly growing community, Ms Hall estimates nearly 40,000 people urgently need day-to-day support from New Zealand’s 17 Alzheimers and dementia community support services but can’t access it. 

She says Government funding for those services is totally inadequate. The Wairarapa service receives no Government funding at all, despite Census data indicating more than 600 people living with dementia in the region. 

“With new research showing three New Zealanders develop dementia every hour – nearly 500 new cases a week – we urgently need properly funded community support services,” Ms Hall says. 

“Those services help people live at home independently for longer, improving quality of life for them and their families. They also reduce pressure on hospitals and dementia care beds, which we all know are already in desperately short supply.” 

Ms Hall says properly funding community dementia services would cost about $11.11 a day per person, which is modest by any measure. 

“Funding these services is a no-brainer. It would deliver major fiscal savings, and it would make an immediate, meaningful difference for thousands of families.” 

Ms Hall says Alzheimers NZ has also raised with Government the need to invest in public health measures that promote brain health and reduce dementia rates over time. 

These actions form part of the Dementia Mate Wareware Action Plan 2026–2031, which outlines five immediate priorities to address New Zealand’s dementia challenge over the next five years: 

• Ensuring timely and accurate diagnosis, and comprehensive management planning for people with dementia 
• Improving community dementia support services 
• Better supporting the formal and informal dementia workforces 
• Providing more effective governance for and within the dementia sector 
• Investing in public health measures to promote brain health and reduce dementia risk over time