Access to care: A qualitative study exploring the primary care needs and experiences of older people needing assistance with daily living

Marina Kunin; Jenny Advocat; Nilakshi Gunatillaka; Grant Russell

doi:10.1071/PY20180

Access to care: A qualitative study exploring the primary care needs and experiences of older people needing assistance with daily living

Marina Kunin, Jenny Advocat, Nilakshi Gunatillaka, Grant Russell

Department of General Practice

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Older people who live in the community and need assistance with daily activities are a unique group of patients to treat in the primary care (PC) setting. This study aimed to understand access-related PC needs and experiences of community-living people over 65 years of age receiving home-based assistance through the Home and Community Care (HACC) program in Melbourne, Australia. This descriptive qualitative study used thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with HACC program clients and assessment officers. Access-related needs and experiences were examined using the patient-centred access to care framework. Client (n = 11) and assessment officer (n = 4) interviews showed that community-living older people receiving home-based assistance from social services are able to find a GP according to their preferences; however, some challenges in access to comprehensive care exist. These challenges relate to regularity of PC attendance, out-of-pocket fees for specialist care and maintaining an enduring patient-GP relationship. GPs can play an important role in improving PC access for vulnerable older people. In particular, GPs can contribute to improving PC attendance and facilitating more affordable access to specialist care by improving systems to recall patients more regularly and developing explicit systems for linking vulnerable patients to affordable specialist services.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	228-235
Number of pages	8
Journal	Australian Journal of Primary Health
Volume	27
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1071/PY20180
Publication status	Published - Jun 2021

Keywords

access to care
elderly patients
family physician
GP
patient-centred care
primary health care
vulnerable patients

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1071/PY20180

Cite this

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title = "Access to care: A qualitative study exploring the primary care needs and experiences of older people needing assistance with daily living",

abstract = "Older people who live in the community and need assistance with daily activities are a unique group of patients to treat in the primary care (PC) setting. This study aimed to understand access-related PC needs and experiences of community-living people over 65 years of age receiving home-based assistance through the Home and Community Care (HACC) program in Melbourne, Australia. This descriptive qualitative study used thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with HACC program clients and assessment officers. Access-related needs and experiences were examined using the patient-centred access to care framework. Client (n = 11) and assessment officer (n = 4) interviews showed that community-living older people receiving home-based assistance from social services are able to find a GP according to their preferences; however, some challenges in access to comprehensive care exist. These challenges relate to regularity of PC attendance, out-of-pocket fees for specialist care and maintaining an enduring patient-GP relationship. GPs can play an important role in improving PC access for vulnerable older people. In particular, GPs can contribute to improving PC attendance and facilitating more affordable access to specialist care by improving systems to recall patients more regularly and developing explicit systems for linking vulnerable patients to affordable specialist services. ",

keywords = "access to care, elderly patients, family physician, GP, patient-centred care, primary health care, vulnerable patients",

author = "Marina Kunin and Jenny Advocat and Nilakshi Gunatillaka and Grant Russell",

note = "Funding Information: The IMPACT study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (TTF-130729) Signature Initiative in Community-Based Primary Health Care, the Fonds de recherche du Qu{\'e}bec – Sant{\'e} and the former Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy. The information and opinions contained in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of these funding agencies or the Australian Government Department of Health. Funding Information: The IMPACT study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (TTF-130729) Signature Initiative in Community-Based Primary Health Care, the Fonds de recherche du Qu?bec Sant? and the former Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy. The information and opinions contained in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of these funding agencies or the Australian Government Department of Health. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 La Trobe University. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1071/PY20180",

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volume = "27",

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AU - Advocat, Jenny

AU - Gunatillaka, Nilakshi

AU - Russell, Grant

N1 - Funding Information: The IMPACT study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (TTF-130729) Signature Initiative in Community-Based Primary Health Care, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé and the former Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy. The information and opinions contained in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of these funding agencies or the Australian Government Department of Health. Funding Information: The IMPACT study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (TTF-130729) Signature Initiative in Community-Based Primary Health Care, the Fonds de recherche du Qu?bec Sant? and the former Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy. The information and opinions contained in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of these funding agencies or the Australian Government Department of Health. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 La Trobe University. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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N2 - Older people who live in the community and need assistance with daily activities are a unique group of patients to treat in the primary care (PC) setting. This study aimed to understand access-related PC needs and experiences of community-living people over 65 years of age receiving home-based assistance through the Home and Community Care (HACC) program in Melbourne, Australia. This descriptive qualitative study used thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with HACC program clients and assessment officers. Access-related needs and experiences were examined using the patient-centred access to care framework. Client (n = 11) and assessment officer (n = 4) interviews showed that community-living older people receiving home-based assistance from social services are able to find a GP according to their preferences; however, some challenges in access to comprehensive care exist. These challenges relate to regularity of PC attendance, out-of-pocket fees for specialist care and maintaining an enduring patient-GP relationship. GPs can play an important role in improving PC access for vulnerable older people. In particular, GPs can contribute to improving PC attendance and facilitating more affordable access to specialist care by improving systems to recall patients more regularly and developing explicit systems for linking vulnerable patients to affordable specialist services.

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Access to care: A qualitative study exploring the primary care needs and experiences of older people needing assistance with daily living

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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