Presidents message

Things have certainly changed a lot since the last report I provided for this newsletter.  It goes without saying that the emergence of COVID has had an enormous effect on the lives of older people and an impact on us professionally.  I am grateful we are in Australia and my thoughts are with friends and colleagues overseas where in some places the mortality in residential aged care is as high as 30%. 

The ANZSGM has discussed how we may best respond and contribute to the public discussion with regard to COVID.  Like much of the work of the Society a lot happens both behind the scenes and in relatively informal settings which may not always be visible to members.  There has been a steady stream of emails involving various levels of the Society including sharing information with regard to the various jurisdictional responses which can change rapidly.  We have also provided a suite of relevant information on the website.  We have also been working actively with the RACP in terms of assisting its response, including advising with regard to matters such as the telehealth item numbers. 

The regular business of the Society has proceeded.  Most visibly impacted by COVID was the decision to change the dates for the Melbourne ASM from 2020 to 2021.  This was a tremendous outcome for the Society as we have largely avoided cancellation fees with venues and thus minimised the financial impact – and would not have been possible without a lot of work from the Melbourne Organising Committee, the Professional Conference Organiser, and the respective committees in Western Australia and Queensland which were also impacted by the change in ASM date.   This was seen as preferable to attempting a virtual conference, but I would be remiss if I did not note that we have also lost a major revenue stream for this financial year.

In terms of other notable events we were pleased with the Australian Government’s decision to defer any changes to ACAT – an entirely sensible decision given the current Royal Commission.  A substantial amount of effort was expended by the Society to ensure that stakeholders were very clear on our collective views on this matter.  We have continued to make submissions and representations on a number of other issues including the Medicare Item number review, where we have argued strongly for the importance of maintaining the CGA as the tool of Geriatricians.  For more information, I encourage you to refer to the Council update which was sent recently.

We are delighted to have the new website in place and trust this will remain an important tool for the Society over the next few years.  Our electronic adventure continues as we will hold our Annual General Meeting electronically in a few weeks – so I hope to “see” most of you there.  Over the next few months hopefully the curve will remain flat and we can prepare for the Royal Commission findings due later this year.

Finally I would like to wish Jean Hannan our Membership Officer all the best as she prepares for parental leave, and welcome Stephanie Colbert who will be acting in this role over the next 12 months.