President’s Message

Hello Colleagues,

I write to you from chilly Sydney where it seems winter has taken hold and the rain continues to be relentless. While COVID-19 still circulates through the older community, many geriatricians continue to shoulder extra responsibilities and carry heavy workloads. I know a lot of you have family and close friends overseas, and as our borders open and we start to travel more I hope you have had opportunities to catch up with loved ones.

As we enter mid-year, it’s a time to reflect on the progress we have made so far and the ways in which we are engaging our members. Firstly, I  acknowledge the commitment and hard work of the organising committee of the ASM (held 8-10 June) from Perth. With over 600 attendees, the fully virtual conference successfully presented an engaging line-up of speakers who shared ideas, innovations and discussion from Australia and overseas.

Our AGM held a few weeks ago marked the introduction of four new members to Council – Heather Lane, Ruth Hubbard, Tracey Macmillan and Aparna Arjunan. I warmly welcome these Councillors and am enormously proud to confirm that women now outnumber men on Council, with 53 percent of positions held by women. Diversity is our strength, and we need to continue fostering a committee that reflects the varied backgrounds of our members. Thank you to Lucy Dakin (chair of GMET) and Carl Hangar who stepped down from Council. A big thank you also to John Maddison for his many years of services on Council but particularly for his leadership as President-Elect, President and this year Immediate Past President.

I welcome our new Treasurer Chia Chong as well as Owen Davies who will now Chair the Clinical Issues Committee and thank their predecessors Rob O’Sullivan and Anthony French respectively for their contributions. I am always mindful that all office bearers and committee members are volunteers and I am grateful for the valuable time they contribute to the Society.

Our Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Working Group will soon share a document  on VAD. I think this paper will be an extremely useful resource for all geriatricians on a complex issue that will involve many of us in the future. Progress has also been made by the Perioperative Special Interest Group with the finalisation of a modified Delphi survey. The results from this survey will inform the development of a minimum clinical dataset for preoperative CGA that can be used as part of routine care of the older patient being assessed for surgery. The Policy and Planning Committee have made some real progress this year with the updating and publishing of four position statements. These statements are an important part of our work, serving as a guideline for colleagues and I thank the authors and encourage all members to take a look.

Looking ahead to the second half of the year I am pleased that one of our key strategic pillars –  “Development of models of care for the older person,” remains front and centre in driving our activities. The first meeting for the Out of Hospital Care Special Interest Group (OHC SIG) will be held in August 2022. We hope that this SIG will provide support and connect members with an interest in the care of older people living in residential care and in private residences with the purpose of improving health care in these settings. The door is always open if you wish to join this group, please contact admin@anzsgm.org for details.  The Dementia SIG which will also be launched later in the year.

Internally there are several changes on the way. As our activities continue to grow, demand on our staff will increase and in July a part time Administration Officer will join Alison King and the team. We will also start the process of engaging external advisors to assist in developing a plan for ANZSGM to migrate from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee. We hope that this move will better reflect the nature of the Society as an organisation representing members across Australia and New Zealand.

Finally,  as I have said before I’m always keen to have informal conversations with colleagues. My presidency has been conducted during a time of online conferences and I look forward to a time when meeting face-to-face is the norm. Until then please feel free to get in touch with your views on any important issues you feel the society should be influencing.

Keep warm

Vasi Naganathan

President