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Aged use ambulances instead of GP home visits

A huge drop in GP home visits has led elderly people to turn to ambulance call outs for emergency care, according to a new Monash University study into ambulance data, presented at the World Association of Family Doctors Conference in Melbourne.

Professor Piterman, head of primary health care at Monash, whose study was reported in The Australian newspaper, said there had been a 65% decline in standard home GP visits in a 10 year period to 2007.

Ambulance data for the same period showed the number of patients treated by paramedics at home, but not taken to hospital, rose by 68% in a five year period to 2006-07.

Professor Piterman said the figures were a concern, because they indicated elderly people were missing out on care, and that ambulance officers were having to work outside their training.

The study also showed that money was being wasted, as it cost much less for a GP to do a house visit than an ambulance call out.

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