There has been some previous work to improve acute care of older people in Australia. For example, age–friendly principles and practices were developed to facilitate health services adopting policies and procedures that address the diverse needs of older patients and their carers (AHMAC 2004a).
In addition; best practice approaches have been presented to minimise functional decline in the older person in acute, sub‑acute and residential aged care settings (AHMAC 2004b) and to facilitate management of delirium in older people (AHMAC 2006). Furthermore, a guide for assessing older people in hospitals exist (AHMAC 2004c), as does a national action plan for improving care outcomes for older people across the acute‑aged care continuum (AHMAC 2004d). These are all important contributions, however it remains unclear to what extent such work has been adopted in clinical practice.