President's Report, August 2010

It's election time. It is a time to reflect on our mission. How proactive should we be in the political debate? Are we an organisation that has particular issues that require airplay? And if so, how and by whom should these issues be expressed? I have my own personal views and have tried to voice them in the past, more to stimulate a debate than to push a barrow, but it seems to me that I might shove the barrow a little further now.

I see this as a missed opportunity. Last election we had meetings with Jan McLucas, opposition health and ageing, with some success but organised more through serendipity than crafted process. This time Zip. We have squandered the moment. This is excused because of our time drought. There is so much to do and so few hours to do it. But we really need to rethink our approach. We need to be ready at least 3 months ahead of the announcement. We should have some policy and a spokesperson or persons ready to go. This was brought home when NACA asked us to have a press-release and we blankly stared at one another wondering what the process would look like.

Let's try and plan something for the next election.
Now having had my rant, the good news

Your executive had its annual meeting with the bureaucrats from DoHA on the 4th of August. We have been doing this now for a long time. In the beginning two or maybe three of them would meet with us in Sydney or Melbourne and we would chat about a few issues for an hour or three. It progressed to the exec flying to Canberra for a half day meeting with up to 20 members of DoHA and affiliated organisations such as MBS. They still appeared, however, to be present more in body than spirit till this year. At this meeting they enthusiastically began to listen. They genuinely took some messages on board and have made plans for a move to 6 monthly meetings with special groups looking at issues around ACAT process, Transition Care and funding models. They even seemed interested in the concepts around Telegeriatrics.
We may have some runs on the board

In other news, we are involved in reviewing the ACFI, in ACAT screening tools and in Psychogeriatrics for DoHA. We have reviewed multiple tree destroying documents for various organisations and submitted a report to the Productivity Commission review on Ageing.

We are currently in conversation with Rehab, Psychogeri and Pall Care, all involved in Subacute Care, to develop a plan for the sector moving forward.

Again I'd like to thank the many who tirelessly perform the hard work for the society for little more than this sentence of thanks can give them at the end of the president’s address in the society newsletter.

I also need to especially thank Robyn Baker, who has grown enormously as our secretary over the past few years to be the scaffolding holding together to the fabric of our many committees. She leaves us for England this month. Thank-you Robyn, warm wishes from all of us and keep in touch. Maybe a letter for the next newsletter?

Dr Jeff Rowland
Jeffrey_Rowland@health.qld.gov.au