John Ward
John Ward is a geriatrician and Co-Chair of the Hunter Ageing Alliance. He is the Leader of the Housing for Older Persons Project.
John's recent articles
5 October 2024
Voluntary assisted dying in dementia - compassion in adversity
Ian Chubb’s story in P and I last week is a familiar one to all health and aged care professionals involved in the care of people with dementia. He described the terminal stages of his wife’s dementia and his anger that they were unable to terminate her illness at an earlier stage.
17 September 2024
We can no longer ignore the poor oral health of older people
It is a sad reflection on medical care in Australia that the mouth seems somehow to be disconnected from the body. Doctors and nurses are poorly trained to examine the mouth and oral health is not funded under Medicare.
11 April 2024
There is no simple fix to residential aged care
Aged care staff are unhappy and many older people in residential aged care are unhappy. Certainly, the NSW Health Minister and the hospitals are unhappy because there are 600 people sitting in acute hospital beds who could be in aged care facilities.
29 August 2023
A new Aged Care Act cannot fix a broken system
Age 65 is no longer relevant to define older people in a new Aged Care Act. It was introduced by Bismarck in Prussia in the 19th century at a time when life expectancy was less than 50 and few people lived past 65. It was reinforced by the US Social Security Act under Roosevelt in 1935 when life expectancy was 58.
2 February 2023
The impact of the housing crisis on the mental and physical health of children
In Australia, we pride ourselves on our egalitarianism, yet now cannot even provide security of accommodation for everyone. How can this be, when older women who have lost their financial security from family break-up and illness, and even young women with small children, end up couch-surfing or sleeping in a car?
20 May 2020
JOHN WARD. Residential aged care in Covid and beyond
Residential aged care was already struggling before Covid, the arrival of which threatens to collapse the industry. It is surely time to redesign aged care to meet the needs of future generations.