Navigating Aged Care Assessments: Balancing Algorithms and Human Judgement

As a consumer peak in Queensland, we regularly hear directly from older people, and those supporting them, about their experiences navigating the aged care system.

One area attracting increasing attention across the health and ageing sectors is the use of algorithms in aged care assessment processes. These tools are intended to support more consistent and efficient decision making, but their real-world application is now being more closely examined.

Recent reporting, including from the ABC, points to more than 800 cases nationally where assessment outcomes have been questioned.

Through our Aged Care Navigation work (Care Finders) in Cairns, we are seeing some of the practical implications firsthand. In particular, it highlights a core challenge: older people with complex or changing needs do not always align with structured assessment frameworks.

This raises broader questions for the sector about how technology and professional judgement work together. Well-designed systems can enhance decision making, but they need to be complemented by experience, context, and the ability to respond to individual circumstances.

Here are some considerations we have been talking about as a team:

▪ Supporting assessors to exercise informed judgement, including where system outputs may not reflect a person’s situation

▪ Ensuring safeguards for people with higher or rapidly changing needs

▪ Developing easier to navigate and timely pathways for review and reconsideration of decisions

▪ Ongoing workforce support and training for system users and administrators

▪ Continuously monitoring and refining systems, informed by lived experience and frontline staff

As these tools continue to evolve, maintaining a focus on person-centred outcomes will be critical to ensuring older people receive services and care that genuinely reflects their circumstances.

#COTAQLD #AgedCare #Ageing #Seniors