Dr John Scott
Geriatrician, Older Adults and Home Health Service, Auckland, NZ
Geriatrician, Older Adults and Home Health Service, Auckland, NZ
John Scott trained in Geriatric and General Medicine in New Zealand, and currently works in hospital practice at North Shore Hospital in Auckland. He has held leadership positions including service Clinical Director and Specialty Head of Division for the then Waitemata District Health Board, at the time the largest provider of hospital and health services in New Zealand. He has been a member of the Advanced Training Committee in Geriatric Medicine (NZ) and was on the Executive of the NZGS (New Zealand Geriatrics Society) prior to its amalgamation with the then ASGM to form the ANZSGM. He is currently divisional president of the New Zealand division of the ANZSGM. His interests include the organisation and development of health services, in particular community based services and the provision of services to underserved populations. He also has an interest in capacity assessment and the law as it relates to care of the elderly.
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Capacity Law Consultation
As geriatricians, we spend much of our time working with people and families affected by dementia, delirium, and other illnesses that affect cognition and decision making capacity. All of us who work in this area will be aware that current legislation, most notably the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act (1988) is outdated, has areas of inconsistency, and has fallen behind what is generally regarded as best legal practice in comparable jurisdictions. Additionally, there are operational aspects of the law such as access to legal representation and the operation of the Family Court that cause difficulty. In response to this, Te Aka Matua o te Ture/ the New Zealand Law Commission has embarked on an ambitious review of the legal framework in Aotearoa/ New Zealand as it relates to persons with affected decision making. It is hoped that this review will, in turn, pave the way for legislative reform. This talk will briefly review the background to the current review, major issues that have been highlighted by a number of parties, the current progress of the review, and the response and position of the ANZSGM.