It’s estimated 30 per cent of dementia sufferers in aged care homes are prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, but the University of New South Wales-led trial found only one in four of patients actually needed them.

Over 60 per cent of participants had been prescribed their current medication after they had gone into aged care, according to the Halting Antipsychotic use in Long Term Care (HALT) project, which involved 140 residents across 23 NSW homes.

The researchers got their results by reducing patients’ medication in a one- or two-step process. Nurses were then trained to recognise the causes of symptoms such as delusions, aggression and agitation and to use alternative treatments to manage behaviour.

It’s an approach that shows promise but one that depends on providers having enough staff and the time to spend with residents to implement it.

Given the recent Government budget cuts of $1.2 billion to the sector that seems unlikely to happen.