The first fortnight of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has wrapped up.

Key points: The first hearings in Adelaide are done and will resume on March 18

The first hearings in Adelaide are done and will resume on March 18 The commission has heard evidence from families, medical experts, aged care bodies and unions

The commission has heard evidence from families, medical experts, aged care bodies and unions Evidence has revealed the sector is under-resourced and underpaid

After seven days of evidence from families, medical experts, aged care bodies and unions, this is what we have learned so far.

The story that helped spark the royal commission, and some sobering facts

When Bob Spriggs was admitted to Oakden nursing home in South Australia, his wife Barb had a gut feeling something was not right.

Ms Spriggs was the first person to take to the witness box and detailed the horrors her husband — who suffered from Parkinson's disease and dementia — endured at the nursing home.

"Once shifted back to Oakden, there was a big deterioration in his health — he had been overmedicated, had severe bruising, was dehydrated and suffering from pneumonia," she told commissioners Lynelle Briggs and Richard Tracey QC.

"To this day, I don't know what happened to Bob."

She and her son Clive lifted the lid on a system in crisis, which prompted the closure of Oakden and several investigations into the site.

In other evidence, the commission was told there were 3,773 reportable assaults, excluding incidents when residents attack each other, in nursing homes in 2017-18.

Senior counsel assisting Peter Gray QC asked Federal Health Department secretary Glenys Beauchamp why the number of "serious risk findings" made by the regulator between 2015-16 to 2017-18 had jumped from two to 61.

She said the sector had been under a lot more scrutiny since the Oakden scandal.

Barb Spriggs and her son Clive complained about the treatment of their husband and father, Bob. ( ABC News: Tony Hill )

Nursing homes evoke emotions of fear and dread

The commission heard many older Australians were fearful about going into residential aged care.

UnitingCare Australia national director Claerwen Little said some "would rather poke their eye with a pencil than have to enter a home".

She said many would rather die.

Ms Little revealed the grim consumer feedback her organisation took from a focus group and online survey, which showed there was a dim view of nursing homes in Australia.

"The expectations of people are that residential aged care is not a good place to be," she said.

The commission also heard horrific case studies of those in aged care, including a man who suffered injuries from a catheter.

The overuse of chemical restraints in aged care is rife

When aged care workers were confronted with a difficult resident, the commission was told the first port of call were psychotropic drugs, to sedate or restrict movement.

Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine president Edward Strivens told the commission that the use of the group of medications — antidepressants, antipsychotics and sedatives — should be used as a last resort.

"When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail," he told the commission.

He said about 80 per cent of older Australians in residential care with dementia were on at least one psychotropic drug, but only 10 per cent of those people had "severe symptoms".

"I think this [is] one of the issues with antipsychotics, it far too often becomes the first step to look at say, managing someone who [is] presenting with agitation, physical outbursts, rather than actually looking at the reasons behind it," he said.

He said it was causing more deaths, strokes and falls.

Last month Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt announced new regulations around the use of physical and chemical restraints in nursing homes.

However, the commission heard draft regulations had not yet been completed.

Aged care sector is in 'billion' dollar crisis

The Royal Commission has heard seven days of evidence in Adelaide. ( Supplied: Rosie O'Beirne )

The Australian aged care sector needs a massive funding boost — and it was one statement that was made again and again throughout the royal commission.

Older Australians want to live at home for longer, but they need financial help to do so.

The commission was repeatedly told that people were waiting more than 12 months for a Federal Government home care package.

In her evidence, the health department's secretary Glenys Beauchamp said "billions of dollars" would be needed to fund 30,000 high-level packages to cut waiting times down to three months.

Those that could no longer stay at home, went into residential care.

Health Services Union national president Gerard Hayes told the commission that there was a "tsunami" of people who would need help as they entered old age in the coming decades.

"There is a lack of funding to deal with the aged care matter as we see it today, let alone the aged care matter we will see in the next 10 to 15 years," he said.

"This is not an industrial matter from our perspective, it's a community matter — this is a systemic issue."

New killer on the horizon for older Australians

It was described to the commission as "the chronic condition of the 21st Century".

Dementia is set to become the biggest cause of death for people aged over 85.

The commission heard that the condition — which does not have a cure and cannot be treated — would impact every Australian and create new challenges in the community.

Dementia Australia chief executive Maree McCabe said there were about 436,000 Australians living with dementia today.

She said by 2050, that number would surge to 1.1 million.

"It will be a loved one, one in three of us in this room will develop dementia at some point and we need to know how best to support people living with it," she said.

The commission also heard that the condition was largely misunderstood and stigmatised, which needed to change.

The workforce is under-resourced and underpaid

Given dementia is set to surpass every other illness as the biggest killer of Australians over 85 years of age, the commission was told that it was vital aged care workers were trained to deal with the complex condition.

Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Patricia Sparrow said the workforce needed to triple by 2050 in order to care for an ageing population with a myriad of health problems, including dementia.

One solution she suggested was to encourage millennials — who strive to build meaningful connections with people and are socially conscious — to enter the workforce.

However, the commission was told about a number of barriers hampering the growth of the aged care workforce, including poor wages and limited support and training.

Australian College of Nursing ageing policy chair Deborah Parker said to work in a nursing home, the minimum requirement was a six-month TAFE course.

"They may go through without doing extensive training on dementia," she said.

She said the workforce was unregulated because personal care attendants were not subject to the same scrutiny as nurses and there was no mechanism to monitor workers who were not fit for purpose.

When will he hear more?

The royal commission will conduct hearings in all capital cities and a number of regional locations.

Hearings will resume in Adelaide on March 18.

The location for hearings for the remainder of 2019 will be announced progressively during the year.