News

MND Australia calls for immediate halt to flawed aged care assessment tool following damning Ombudsman findings

Published: 27 October 2026

MND Australia is calling on the Australian Government to immediately stop using the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) to determine aged care funding, following the Commonwealth Ombudsman's damning findings that the system is unfair, unreasonable and lacks adequate human oversight.

The national peak body for motor neurone disease (MND) says the findings confirm concerns it has repeatedly raised about an assessment system that is failing people with complex and rapidly progressing conditions.

MND Australia CEO Clare Sullivan said the Government could no longer justify continuing to use a system that has been found to produce unfair and clinically inappropriate outcomes.

"For almost 12 months, people living with MND have been assessed by a system that can leave them without the funding they need to live safely and with dignity at home.

"We have repeatedly warned the Government that the algorithm is failing people with MND. Now the Commonwealth Ombudsman has confirmed serious flaws in the system. There can be no justification for continuing to use it."

MND Australia is calling on the Federal Government to:

• Immediately suspend the IAT for determining Support at Home funding levels.

• Establish an interim assessment process led by skilled assessors, with the clinical expertise and authority to determine funding based on individual needs.

• Urgently reassess all people with MND assessed since 1 November 2025, using expert human assessors, and provide additional funding where previous allocations were inadequate.

• Formally apologise to people living with MND who have been left with insufficient care and support over the past 12 months.

Ms Sullivan said the Government's commitment to further reviews and an escalation pathway from January was not an adequate response to the Ombudsman's findings.

"People with MND cannot wait until January, let alone until another review reports next year. This is a rapidly progressive, terminal disease. Every week without adequate care matters.

“Today, I’m thinking about Graham, Julie, Tony, Peter, Jennifer, and all the people living with MND and their families who have been let down by this system.

“They have spent precious time fighting for care they should have received in the first place. Time they will never get back.

“The Government owes them more than an apology. It owes them urgent action to make this right.”