Primary Health Care for Older People

Primary health care for older people 1
PRIMARY HEALTH CARE FOR OLDER PEOPLE
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Primary health care for older people 2
Primary health care is the day to day health care made available to all individuals in the
society by a health care provider. According to Langford, Higgs & Fry (2016), it refers to
essential health care that is universally acceptable and accessible to individuals who seek health
care services. It is centered on the wellbeing of individuals and community as a whole. Primary
health care for all individuals is governed by five important principles. These principles are
providing care that is promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and supportive. Primary
health provision for the older population is gaining a lot of attention in the world today.
Since the elderly form an important part of the society and community in general, their
health care is of importance. Geriatric medical centers are developing over time in an attempt to
ensure that the older people medical needs are met with the utmost specialty and attention.
Primary health care for the older people is taking shape and the focus revolves around providing
a patient-centered approach rather than the traditional provider centric care provision (Cavan et
al, 2018). It is focused on health promotion and ensuring prevention of diseases as opposed to
only managing a particular medical condition. The aim of this discussion is to explain primary
health care provision to older people and analyze various models of care delivery to the elderly.
The elderly require intensive care that is structured according to their special needs. Old
people tend to have special needs and their care plan cannot be the same as that of the rest of the
population as they do not have the same energy as young people (Smolowitz et al, 2015). There
are also some medical conditions linked to old age and these conditions include hypertension,
diabetes and cardiac related conditions such as myocardial infarction and coronary artery
disease.
The manner in which care is provided should always be patient dependent. The patient
should always be the center of care and care provision should always follow the needs of the

Primary health care for older people 3
health seeker (Gilday et al, 2018). Primary health care encourages patient participation in
decision making as far as their health is concerned. Care provision to the older people should
always be easily accessible whenever needed. The health care provider should always be near to
the patient and the patient should not have to travel long distances to seek health services as it
discourages health seeking behavior especially among the elderly.
There are several systems and models set in place to care for the health care needs of the
older people. The user pays system for example is an effective system that works in the manner
that one receives health care services that they pay for. Aged care is over time adapting to this
system. Since most elderly people are retired and therefore do not have a source of income, the
families of these people chip in to ensure that their care is provided in the best way possible
using this system.
The user pays system functions in that people only gain access to the services that they
can afford and these services are tailored in accordance to their preference. This is opposed to the
general health care provision whereby the elderly mainly rely on government subsidies so as to
access quality health care. The public health care sector ensures that health care is provided to
the older people regardless of their condition as the government subsidizes the cost of care. The
universal primary health care aims at ensuring that all individuals and families in the community
gain access to unlimited health care provision regardless of the affordability of the services
(Wakerman, 2018). The social capital approach is being applied in the care for the old
people. It focusses on bringing financial resources together in the community to ensure that
the elderly are well taken care of. Formation of social clubs and associations within a
community have helped raise funds for the care of the elderly hence aiding in universal
primary health care achievement.