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The upper house has agreed to Greens spokesperson for Older People Senator Penny Allman-Payne’s motion calling for the government to abolish the Integrated Assessment Tool.
The motion, which passed on Tuesday, also calls on the government to restore the role of clinicians in the assessment process and reinstate the ability for human override.
The motion notes that “the IAT is untested, structurally flawed and systematically under-assessing the care needs of older Australians, especially those living with mental health conditions, cognitive issues and frailty.”
It calls on the government to replace it with a tested assessment system that is designed by clinical experts and guarantees the rights of older people as its first priority.
When calling for the suspension of standing orders to debate the motion, Ms Allman-Payne said “we know the minister is out of his depth, does not understand his brief and has failed categorically to listen to the concerns that have been raised in the hearings that we have had in the Support at Home inquiry, in the questions that we have raised at estimates.”
When clinicians, providers, older people, families and the people who work in the sector “are all telling the government that this tool is flawed and is underassessing the care needs of older people, it is urgent that the government acts,” she said.
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Senator Anne Ruston backed the “urgency of the issue” behind Ms Allman-Payne’s motion.
“Because the evidence before us is absolutely damning,” she said. “The Integrated Assessment Tool is not working and there is not one piece of evidence to suggest that it is.”
Ms Ruston said it “is no longer about a few teething problems,” but a “systematic, structural flaw in the algorithm that is put in charge of making decisions about the care needs and the urgency of those care needs of older Australians.”
“I can’t think of anything that is more urgent than older Australians dying because they’re being mis-assessed by an algorithm that’s been put in place by this government,” Ms Ruston said.
“People are dying, there is nothing more urgent than putting in place, in this chamber, in this parliament, measures to prevent people from dying.
“So, I don’t think anybody in here would disagree that there is nothing more urgent than making sure people are not dying unnecessarily because legislation and, quite frankly, a computer are making decisions that leave their care needs so underfunded, so under-resourced that they’re dying while they’re waiting for the care that they have been assessed as needing.”
In July, the Senate passed a bill to restore human override in aged care assessments but it remains in the House of Representatives after its first reading on 11 August and subsequent blocking by the government majority.
The IAT is also currently under investigation by the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
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