Over-65s use twice as many GP resources

<p>A new report from the University of Sydney finds that over-65s use twice as many GP resources as the average population.</p><p>Older Australians spend more time with their GP, see them more frequently and for more health problems, according to the report that looked at the challenge for Medicare in the future.</p><p>But considering the government has been encouraging over-65s to visit their GPs more often through such policies as “well checks” the findings aren’t that surprising, according to lead investigator Helena Britt.</p><p>She said that there needed to more investment in primary care to prevent patients from needing more expensive care.</p><p>"If you have people living longer, you have more and more problems to be managed and therefore you must use up more resources," Associate Professor Britt told <em>The Age.</em></p><p>"General practice is one of the cheapest parts of Medicare. Perhaps if we gave general practice more power as a gatekeeper, we may prevent some of the far more expensive services from building up."</p><p>According to <em>The Age,</em> the over-65 population grew by 18 per cent as a proportion of the population between 2000-2001 and 2014-2015. Their use of GP services grew by 22 per cent in terms of GP-patient encounters, 30 per cent in terms of problems managed in general practice and 20 per cent of GP clinical time. Most over-65 patients have one or more chronic disease and 60 per cent have at least three.</p><p>"There's nothing to suggest that another age group is suffering as a result of increased utilisation by over-65s," Professor Britt said.</p><p>Steve Hambleton, the federal government's chief advisor on primary health care, said it wasn’t primary care but acute care episodes that could threaten the sustainability of Medicare. However, general practice played a role in ensuring patients with chronic conditions did not deteriorate.</p><p>"General practice costs are not the problem," Dr Hambleton said.</p><p>"It's when people go to hospital and consume all the acute resources. How do we stop people going from two diseases to five diseases?"</p><p><strong>Related links:&nbsp;</strong></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/health/caring/2015/08/strength-and-flexibility-exercises/">3 great moves for strength and flexibility that all over-60s should do</a></strong></em></span></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/health/wellbeing/2015/09/friends-are-key-to-keeping-fit/">Why a friend is the key to keeping fit</a></strong></em></span></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/health/wellbeing/2015/09/what-body-does-while-you-sleep/">8 interesting things that happen to your body while you sleep</a></strong></em></span></p>

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