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Introduction: Primary Health Care for the Elderly: Examining Allocation of Resources and Service Delivery
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In the present scenario, effective delivery of care and related services among the old age people has become essential. Furthermore, continuous improvement in the services linked with primary health care needs to be carried out so that more accurate and satisfactory service to the old people can be delivered (Hussain et al. 2015). The present essay provides an explanation ofprimary health care for older people. Here, data has been collected and evaluated from various sources to gain insight into the concept associated with primary health care for such people. In addition to this, the evaluation of the overall way in which resources are allocated has also been carried out in the current study.
Primary healthcare for older people
In simpler terms, primary healthcare is defined as the first and foremost point of contact in the health and social care system of the Australia Furthermore, dentists, pharmacy, optician services and GP are some other people involved in the process of delivering primary health care for the older people. Over the past few years, the need to manage the care of people in the old age has increased to a great extent in the country and nowadays, the care providers are required to deliver adequate care in a proactive manner (Yusif et al. 2016). Many healthcare professionals in the country are now developing effective plans and strategies through which they are managing the emerging risk associated with care among the old age people.
The increasing burden of chronic diseases among old age people has also emerged as one of the biggest challenges for health and social care professionals. It has also been identified that primary healthcare is the term used to define different types of health and social care professionals who work in a society or community. In the present scenario, there are wide ranges of primary health care services delivered to the old age people to provide adequate care and treatment to them.
For example, the healthcare professionals are diagnosing the disease of old age people and at the same time, they are carrying out adequate treatment of the same. Promotion of good health among people in old age is also a critical service which is delivered by primary healthcare in the country (Beard and Bloom, 2015). The people involved in providing such kind of services emphasize on developing and implementing effective plans and strategies through which good health can be easily promoted among the old aged people in societies.
On the other side of this, it has also been evaluated that the primary healthcare services are also directed towards preventing health related problems and issues among people in the old age. These healthcare professionals provide guidelines and adequate direction to the old age people so that the health related issues and problems can be avoided in the best and every possible manner. Early intervention of the disease or health related problems is also a service which the primary the health care professionals are currently offering to the people in old age (Pacolet et al. 2018).
However, it can be argued that the way in which primary healthcare services are delivered is somewhat dissatisfactory. Some people in old age are able to access to primary healthcare services easily while the other people are struggling a lot to access these services and receive adequate care (Valtorta et al. 2018).
The role of primary healthcare is also critical among people in the old age because it helps in maintaining good health and preventing illness in the best and every possible manner. Older people are also suggested to seek for advice on different areas such as managing to smoke, maintaining an adequate diet, dealing with stress and depression and avoiding all forms of physical in activities.
Way in which resources are allocated and services are provided
In simpler terms, resource allocation can be defined as the process of distributing the resources in an appropriate manner so that better and satisfactory care and services can be delivered to older people. The allocation of resources within health and social care can be categorised into three major areas which are allocating resources for individual patients, allocating resources for social needs and allocating the resources for the entire healthcare system (Mozley, 2017). Over the past few years, the process of resource allocation has become very important for the growth and sustainability of the health and social care industry.
The statement can be justified by the fact that the cost of healthcare for older people is raising with a very good pace and this has further generated a strong need of carrying out the effective allocation of resources (Gorman, 2017). In addition to this, the increasing popularity of aspects such as healthcare rationing is also considered as a critical factor which has generated a strong need for carrying out the effective allocation of the resources.
In the context of way, it can be expressed that proper planning is one of the main and most important ways through which resources are allocated and services are provided with the primary healthcare to the older people. The healthcare professionals are now required to develop effective plans and strategies so that they can carry out proper and the most suitable allocation of resources. Apart from this, effective analysis of every area in which resources are needed is also carried out so that the best possible allocation of the available resources can be carried out.
Central resource planning for example is the strategy which is commonly used in the health and social care profession to deliver care and related services to the older people. Furthermore, there are wide ranges of factors which needs are taken into consideration by the healthcare professionals to secure the resources for older people (Cesari et al. 2016).
Other than this, stakeholder’s engagement is also a critical strategy which has been taken into consideration by the health and social care professionals to deliver care and provide services to older people. Here, employees, patients and their family members are encouraged to provide their views and suggestions with regards to the way in which care plan can be developed and services can be delivered to attain the desired and expected outcomes.
Critical discussion on primary health care services
It has been evaluated that most of the people in the country are now receiving good quality of care and it is only because of the effective allocation of resources. Over the past few years, the overall quality of care delivered to older people has improved to a great extent and the result of this is that more and more people in old age are now getting access to better care. The advantages and disadvantages of PHC have discussed here.
Advantages are: 1) it has also been identified that community based care is the concept which is now most commonly used within the health and social care professionals. Nowadays, different types of strategies and action plans are developed by professionals to empower local communities and enhance the overall promotion of health in the best and every possible manner. 2) The main and most important advantage of this concept is that it directly contributes to developing more useful, accurate and effective plans to deliver care to the old age people. 3) Organizations such as NHS and WHO are investing lots of resources in developing plans and strategies through which the primary health care services can be easily accessed by people of all age.
Limitation of PHC comprise: 1) it can be argued that poor system integration and limited access to the services still remains the most important challenges for the people in old age in terms of using the health care related services. 2) Even today, lots of improvement is still in terms of the way in which health care services are accessed by old people and the way in which these services are delivered to the same. 3) the current system of PHC is very rigid and is facing many challenges in addressing the healthcare needs efficiently.The unavailability of resources is the primary issue that is resulting in inefficient performance. 4) Limited funds and efforts from government is another issue that is limiting. The
From the above conducted study, it can be concluded that primary health care is the first point of contact for the old age people in terms of receiving care and treatment. Nowadays, there are wide ranges of services which primary health care systems are delivering to people of all ages. Furthermore, promotion of good health, early interventions and treatment of the disease are some examples of the services delivered by the primary healthcare to old age people. It can be also inferred that proper planning is the main and most important strategy which is used by healthcare professionals to deliver care and services to older people. At present, there is high degree of inequalities existing within the healthcare systems as some people are able to access to the services while the other are facing several issues and challenges.
References
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Hussain, A., Wenbi, R., da Silva, A.L., Nadher, M. and Mudhish, M., (2015). Health and emergency-care platform for the elderly and disabled people in the Smart City. Journal of Systems and Software, 110, 253-263.
Mozley, C., 2017. Towards quality care: outcomes for older people in care homes. Routledge.
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Prince, M.J., Wu, F., Guo, Y., Robledo, L.M.G., O'Donnell, M., Sullivan, R. and Yusuf, S., (2015). The burden of disease in older people and implications for health policy and practice. The Lancet, 385(9967, 549-562.
Valtorta, N.K., Moore, D.C., Barron, L., Stow, D. and Hanratty, B., (2018). Older adults’ social relationships and health care utilization: A systematic review. American journal of public health, 108(4), 1-10.
Yusif, S., Soar, J. and Hafeez-Baig, A., (2016). Older people, assistive technologies, and the barriers to adoption: A systematic review. International journal of medical informatics, 94, 112-116.
