Primary Health Care (PHC) For Australian Elderly

Running head: PRIMARY HEALTH CARE (PHC) FOR OLD PEOPLE 1
Primary Health Care (PHC) For Australian Elderly
Name
Institutional Affiliation

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE (PHC) FOR OLD PEOPLE 2
PRIMARY HEALTH CARE (PHC) FOR OLD PEOPLE
Primary Health Care (PHC) is the essential healthcare based on the scientifically solid
and socially acceptable methods and technology making UHC accessible to everyone in a
community. Ensuring full participation of community members and affordable cost of care
ensures self-determination and self-reliance development. PHC approaches health beyond the
conventional health system which focuses on health equity-yielding social policy. PHC include
areas that play key roles in health like health services access, lifestyle, and environment. PHC
and public health measures are jointly considered the cornerstone of universal health systems.
The WHO defines the traditional goals of PHC based on three main categories. These categories
include:
 Empowering individuals and communities,
 Multispectral policy and action
 Primary care and essential public health
All the above three categories are central to integrated health services. PHC not only
assist people after diagnosis with illness or condition but also prevent such issues by
understanding a person in entirety.
Critique Primary Health Care for Old People
PHC services and support for the elderly living in the community has been generally
successful through various support and services provided by commonwealth, state, territories,
non-government support, and the volunteers (Oster et al., 2016). Most of these programs have,
however, ignored the “healthy ageing” programs that lead to desired outcomes than those that
focus on keeping the elderly in the residential and care facilities for extended period. Keeping
old people in residential care facilities is not only costly, but also done against the wishes of the

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE (PHC) FOR OLD PEOPLE 3
elderly people. Old people prefer the community aged care packages. Plans are, however,
underway for Australian to change policies that will adopt the new tendency that will save the
cost of providing PHC to the elderly people and ensure they can remain active (Ahha, 2015).
Active elderly people will be achieved through the stimulation and improvement of cognitive
functioning (CF), physical activity (PA), nutrition, alongside better QoL. There have been
noticeable shifts of focus towards community care rather than residential care.
The successive state and commonwealth governments have followed the overall policy
framework of the “aging in place.” It puts more emphasis on keeping the old people and frail
individuals in respective family contexts or homes as long as possible by providing homecare
services (Wakerman et al., 2017). This is the best way to provide PHC for the old people. The
full implementation of “aging in place” or “healthy” “aging or “I am Active” should be hastened
to help old people stay active members of the society instead of waiting until their health is
deteriorated to be transferred into residential care facilities against their wishes.
Thus, more focus should be given to such programs as “community aged care packages
(CACPs), home and community care program (HACC), and extended aged care at home pilot
(EACH)”. There is also a need for the Commonwealth government to check on the age
discrimination and rights for effective PHC and also complete the development and
implementation of desired legislations projected towards combating age discrimination challenge
(Dawson et al., 2017). Such PHC strategies will improve the wellbeing of the elderly people.
This is because the elderly people will not be forced away from their homes into residential care
facilities. They will also remain active members of the society because it will diagnose any
problem and solve it before affecting the elderly people.
Explanation of primary health care for older people