President’s Message
Hello Colleagues,
A lot has happened since my last update in September. In the last few months I’ve attended Divisional events in Queensland and New Zealand, and represented the Society at the 56th Conference of the AAG on the Gold Coast, contributing to a session on frailty as part of the AAG President’s Symposium.
The Queensland Division’s Weekend once again delivered a great balance of educational content with opportunities for networking in a relaxed and collegiate environment. The New Zealand Division hosted an outstanding retreat over three days at the end of October in the beautiful city of Napier on Hawke’s Bay. It was wonderful to meet members of the New Zealand Division and to speak with President of the British Geriatric Society Professor Adam Gordon; Professor Gordon’s keynote presentation on some of the current challenges facing the NHS and the effect this is having on older people in the UK was eye-opening. I urge you to take the time to look at the rundown of the NZ Retreat in this newsletter. Although I wasn’t able to attend the Victorian Division’s Peer Review Weekend this year, I heard very positive reports about it and hope to make it in 2024.
It was a pleasure to meet recently with ANZSGM Council in Sydney, our first face-to-face meeting since the Annual Scientific Meeting in Brisbane in May. The Council welcomed two new Advanced Trainee members, Hayley Chen and Alexandra La Hood – we look forward to their contributions on Council and thank Sok Shin Yap, the outgoing Advanced Trainee Representative.
The in-person format of the meeting allowed us to run two important workshops in addition to the usual Council business agenda. One was a governance workshop. Now that the Society is legally registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee, the ANZSGM Council in effect becomes the Board of Directors, under the regulatory oversight of ASIC. It is therefore critical that ANZSGM Councillors understand their duties and legal obligations, and are comfortable with contemporary standards of governance. While I know many members of the Society have some experience with governance of organisations, I think it’s fair to say that corporate governance is not our primary skillset as a profession. In the past we’ve perhaps not given this aspect of the Society’s operations the emphasis it is due; in the interests of transparency and fairness we need to ensure that members who volunteer to take on roles representing the Society know what they are signing up for! Going forward we will use some of the materials from the workshop to build a repository of training resources for members of Council and other Society bodies.
The second workshop focused on advocacy priorities for the next 12 months. For the first time ever we brought representatives of the six Division committees (including five of the six Division Presidents) together with Council for a discussion on the strategic direction of Society. I suspect most members’ experience of the Society is defined in large part by the Division to which they belong, and much of health care and aged care delivery across our two nations is dominated by the local context; it is essential therefore that the Society’s advocacy agenda incorporates the voices of the Divisions. It was a fruitful session with a lot of robust discussion, producing a shortlist of themes including dementia care, equity, healthy ageing and aged care funding. We will undertake some further work on these areas to determine how we can best employ the Society’s resources to achieve better outcomes for older people and raise the profile of geriatric medicine.
Speaking of dementia, you will no doubt be aware of the changing landscape of pharmacotherapy for Alzheimer’s Disease with the emergence of ‘amyloid-busting’ immunotherapies. United States FDA approval of aducanumab and more recently lecanemab (with a third agent potentially on the way) has been met with controversy. Proponents argue these novel therapies represent the first real hope for modifying the course of the disease; however, questions remain as to their safety and practicality, and many remain unconvinced about their efficacy. Recently I was sent this webinar from the Alzheimer International Society, which presents a series of critical perspectives on the new anti-amyloid drugs. If you have the time, it’s worth a watch – it certainly raises a number of interesting questions. Dementia is such an important issue for older people and society at large. Across Australia and New Zealand geriatricians provide most of the specialist medical care for dementia. It’s critical we get dementia care right; our Dementia Care Special Interest Group aims to keep dementia at the front and centre of the Society’s work.
If you are thinking ahead about professional development opportunities in 2024, be aware that registrations have now opened for the ANZSGM ASM in Christchurch, 22 – 24 May. Why not register now and take advantage of early bird rates?
In closing I want to wish members a happy holiday season and a peaceful start to the New Year. Thank you to everyone who’s contributed to the output of the Society over the last year, especially Council, Committee, SIG and Division members, and a big thank you to our staff, Alison King, Jo Dunlop, Jean Hannan and Lucinda Maloney. For those taking leave over the next month or so, enjoy your down-time with family and friends – I hope it gives you the opportunity to reset and restore.
Best Wishes
Rob O’Sullivan
