Elderly face ‘patchy’ healthcare
The Australian General Practice Network has called for the federal government to “step up” funding to deliver better medical services for nursing home residents and improve care for the many people suffering from multiple chronic diseases. The calls come after doctors’ visits to nursing homes appear to be falling.
The Australian General Practice Network has called for the federal government to “step up” funding to deliver better medical services for nursing home residents and improve care for the many people suffering from multiple chronic diseases.
The calls come after doctors’ visits to nursing homes appear to be falling, leaving residents reportedly with “patchy healthcare”.
Chairman of the network, Emil Djakic, tells the Sydney Morning Herald older people residing in nursing homes “often [have] limited and insufficient access to the team of primary healthcare professionals required to best manage their care”.
Dr Djakic claims changing dynamics in general practice has made it “uneconomic” for many GPs to visit nursing homes.
According to Australian Medical Association’s vice president, Geoff Dobb, Medicare is failing to “appropriately value the delivery of quality medical care to older people living in aged care and in the community”.
Professor Dobb says Medicare now pays $44 for a GP to visit a nursing home, in which the doctor receives a consultation payment of about $35 for seeing the patient, which reportedly adds up to what Professor Dobb claims a person pays for a tradesman to visit their home.
“The reality is we are undervaluing the care of our older people. Aged care is a process Australians do not seem to want to face up to,” he adds.
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