President’s Message

Hello Colleagues,

Since my last message to you in July, the months have unfolded with ongoing lockdowns, restricted travel, and for many of us, performing clinical and administrative activities we could never have imagined.  

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of geriatricians across Australia and New Zealand during these extremely challenging times as the Delta variant makes its mark on our community. This pandemic has had an enormous impact on our older people which has meant our roles have demanded flexibility, resilience, and innovation.

I know that in Sydney and Melbourne some of you are working on the ‘frontline’ directly caring for people with COVID-19 and helping manage outbreaks in residential care. Many of you in Australia and New Zealand are in the thick of the re-organisation of services to deal with what is in front of us and what may happen further in the future. Having just finished a fortnight rotation on our COVID-19 wards the things that struck me were the importance of following our usual principles on how to provide good acute hospital care, how quickly clinical situations can change, the challenges as a result of patients and their families not being  able to see each other in hospital and the tragic stories of multiple family members across generations being affected.    

While COVID-19 continues to challenge all of us, the core role of ANZSGM in advocating for the care of older people must continue. We are maintaining our advocacy efforts to preserve the role of geriatricians within state run ACATS and our position remains –ACATs should stay in state health and not be moved to NGOs/private organisations, particularly for hospital inpatients.

ANZSGM is part of a growing group of medical organisations acknowledging the need for action on climate change.  Under the RACP Council we have recently added our support to the endorsement of The Lancet Countdown Policy Brief for Australia 2021. The paper recommends a national strategy to prepare for extreme heat, a target of net-zero in 2040 to reduce healthcare emissions, while placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at the centre of climate change and health policy making.

Several long-held plans within the Society have really taken shape in the past months and are moving closer to fruition. We are soon launching an Expression of Interest for our Community/Residential Aged Care Special Interest Group. At the centre of their work will be a response to the Royal Commission’s Recommendation 58 (Access to specialists and other health practitioners through Multidisciplinary Outreach Services).

Last month Queensland was the fifth state in the country to legalise voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill patients. Given the shifting legislations across Australia it is timely that the Society has formed a Voluntary Assisted Dying working group who will develop a Society position and policy on key considerations for VAD in older populations. The group met for the first time in September and includes 10 members who represent a diversity of views from a broad representation of membership.

The development of an ANZSGM quarterly webinar series has now been approved by Council and is set to launch in November this year. The webinars will be a great opportunity for different society bodies to present topics of interest to members.

In November Council will meet with the ANZSGM team for a planning session to map out the Society’s activities for the next few years. Our plans continue to grow and we hope this means more value for our members and better support to geriatricians in Australia and New Zealand.

Professor Vasi Naganathan
ANZSGM President