Primary Health Care for Older Adults in Australia

Running head: ESSAY
Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
ESSAY
Primary Health Care (PHC) in Australia covers a large a number of services and
service providers across different public and private sectors. It is first line of service of the
healthcare system. It helps to promote health and well-being followed by screening of the
disease status of the population, subsequent implementation of the disease specific
intervention along with educating the mass about the effective management of the disease
(Australian Government Department of Health, 2013). The following report aims to critically
analyse the PHC service delivery for the older adults in Australia living in community. The
essay will initiate with a detailed focus on the PHC for the older people in Australia followed
by evaluation of the ways in which the resources are allocated and the services are delivered
under PHC approach. The essay will end with a critical analysis of the PHC service delivery
for the older people.
PHC for older people in Australia holds prime importance in the Australian health
care. The older adults make up a significant proportion in the Australian population. Nearly
one out of the 7 individuals are aged 65 years and above as per the census statistics of
Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2018). The statistics also
reports that life-expectancy of the older adults have increase by 20 years (approx). This
increase in the life expectancy has increased the demand of the PHC services for the older
adults. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2019), PHC services helps in
regulation the overall health and well-being of the older adults. It is the main means of
service delivery approach at both state and local level. PHC service delivery for the
community dwelling older adults mainly covers clinical service delivery at community level,
proper maintenance of the continuity of care while integrating comprehensive prevention of
the disease through care for illness. PHC services for the older adults in the community also
encompass development of the effective self-management skills of the disease through
disease education and awareness (Government of South Australia, 2019). Effective education

2
ESSAY
about the disease prognosis among the older adults and the family members by the nursing
professionals help to increase the disease awareness, therapy adherence while increasing
encouraging the elderly to maintain a healthy lifestyle (Hoogendijk et al., 2014). This is again
supported by the concept of Healthy Ageing by the World Health Organization [WHO]
(2019). The concept of healthy ageing is defined as a process of developing and maintaining
a comprehensive functional ability of the older adults in order to promote physical and mental
health and well-being. Functional ability is can be defined as a special trait of the older adults
that help them to execute their daily living activities like eating, bathing, walking, dressing,
independently. The concept of healthy ageing also helps in the promotion of personal ability
or competence that helps the older adults to take active part in the decision making process in
the therapy plan while maintaining a healthy relationships with the other family members and
other members of the society. Beard et al. (2016) stated that it is the duty of the PHC
professionals to promote the concept of healthy ageing. This can be done by helping the older
adults to get accustomed with the healthy life style habits in daily living like observance of
healthy diet plan, daily execution of mild to moderate physical activity along with increased
social participation and decreased level of intoxication (smoking of tobacco and drinking of
alcohol).
The main resources of the PHC service delivery for the older adults residing in the
community include general practitioners or the doctors, nurses (community health nurses,
mental health nurses), allied healthcare professionals (dieticians, physical fitness trainer and
physiologist), aboriginal healthcare workers and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)
work force. All the service providers of the PHC are registered under the Aged Care Act
1997 (Australian Government Department of Health, 2013). The primary health care
services offered at the community level for the older adults cover both psychological and
physiological health conditions. It mainly embrace five types of care at the community level