A recap of the 4th National LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care Roundtable

LGBTIQ+ Health Australia's Ageing and Aged Care Project Officer Franky Lander-McLeod recaps our 4th National Roundtable on LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care

On the 9th and 10th of February LHA and the Silver Rainbow team hosted the 4th National Roundtable on LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care. We were joined by industry experts, representatives from advocacy bodies, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia member organisations and beloved members of the LGBTI community to discuss key issues that directly affect the health and wellbeing of LGBTI older persons.

We were joined by esteemed speakers from the Department of Health, The Royal Commission into Aged Care, Elder Abuse Action Australia, and Celebrate Ageing to lead us through topics such as government policy updates, LGBTI people and elder abuse, palliative care, and the impact of ageism.

On day one, we were joined by Ann Wunsch the Executive Director for Provider Approvals and Compliance for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to provide an update on the role of the Commission and how they are supporting diversity and protecting LGBTI people who are currently using services, both at home and in residential aged care. We were then joined by Bev Lange from Elder Abuse Action Australia to discuss elder abuse from an LGBTI lens.

On day two we received an update from Robert Day who is the Assistant Secretary for the Dementia, Diversity and Design Branch to discuss diversity action plans, and the future of embedding choice and control within the aged care sector.

We finished the Roundtable with Dr Catherine Barret, Founder and Director of Celebrate Ageing to discuss the serious nature of ageism within the LGBTI community – and how to reflect on our own internalised ageism.

Alongside the external speakers, we had amazing presentations from LGBTIQ+ Health Australia’s own Nicky Bath, to provide an update on LHA, followed by LHA’s Training and Capacity Building Director Rob Hardy to update participants on the Silver Rainbow program and Hannah Morgan – coordinator of the Palliative Care Project to talk about what we currently know about palliative care for the LGBTI community and to provide insights from the project’s immense scoping review.

The event was filled with education, discussion, and collaboration with speakers and participants and will culminate with a detailed report that will be available to all participants and the public.

The 4th National Roundtable into LGBTI Ageing and Aged intersected with the 7th National Elder Abuse conference which was held on the 14th and 15th of February 2022. This year’s theme was ‘Walk the Talk’.  The conference was held in Hobart, Tasmania, and LGBTIQ+ Health Australia joined in on the conferences state of the art virtual platform.

LGBTIQ+ Health Australia was represented by Nicky Bath representing older LGBTI perspectives of Elder Abuse, and the Ageing and Aged Care program’s new coordinator Anthony Van Ballegooij who presented the findings of the elder abuse discussions from the 4th National Roundtable on LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care. The conference featured presentations from all over Australia – with a huge focus on intersectionality and diversity of experiences of elder abuse in this country.