Geriatric forensic medicine - A specialty that can no longer wait to be realised

The rise in the population and the growth in the proportion of the elderly in our population are changing the structure of many of our communities and placing increasing demands on our social and health care services. "Scandals" regarding conditions and standards of care in residential aged care facilities have raised concerns about the regulation, assessment and auditing of these community services for the elderly. At the same time longer working lives change the age factors related to employment opportunities and the cadre of older employees presents a different range of human resource issues and occupational health and safety problems for employers. While there is evidence that an older workforce can bring a wider experience and understanding of critical issues to many work disciplines, ageing practitioners may pose professional regulatory issues for the community when considerations of cognitive and technical/physical ability arise. It is in these settings that the need for a forensic focus on gerontology and medical geriatrics arises.