Changes to Aged Care Assessment Teams will have a negative impact on the care of older Australians.

The Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine (ANZSGM is calling on the Federal Government to reconsider its proposed changes to Aged Care Assessment arrangements due to be implemented from April 2021.

Aged Care Assessments are an older person’s first step in accessing the psychological and clinical assessments required in order to access home or residential aged care. Under the Government’s planned changes, the process will merge two assessment workforces currently operating independently – Regional Assessment Service who assess need and Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATS) who assess eligibility for services.

“These changes will have a significant detrimental impact on the care of the most vulnerable older Australians and their access to high quality expert care by limiting any meaningful involvement of geriatricians along with specialist nursing and allied health services in this process, “ said ANZSGM President Dr John Maddison. 

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