The Albanese Labor Government's announcement today that it is creating a special priority assessment pathway for MND patients to access aged care support is a clear admission that its Integrated Assessment Tool is failing and human override must be reinstated urgently.
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Senator the Hon Anne Ruston said for months the Coalition and crossbench had been raising distressing cases where MND patients had been told they need less care as their condition deteriorates but the Albanese Government did nothing.
“Just yesterday Government officials spent Senate estimates defending the assessment tool when I asked them to explain how a person with motor neurone disease - a condition that only ever gets worse - could possibly be assessed as needing less care,” Senator Ruston said.
“We welcome the Government finally doing the right thing by Australians living with MND but we will not congratulate them after months of denials.
“The reality is this change exists because the Albanese Government’s own assessment system is not accurately identifying urgency in the first place. This announcement is not a reform, it is a confession that the tool does not work.
Senator Ruston said the decision highlights fundamental flaws in both the algorithm and the way assessments were being classified.
“This is not an isolated issue and it goes to the heart of a broken aged care system that is heading toward a crisis,” Senator Ruston said.
“The Government should now extend urgent prioritisation to all Australians with progressive degenerative conditions and undertake a full redesign of the assessment framework.
“It is not defensible to continue relying on an algorithm that demonstrably under-classifies need, particularly for people whose conditions are known to deteriorate rapidly.”
ENDS
@Anne_Ruston
/AnneRuston