Performance of Primary Health Care of Patients with Chronic Diseases in Australia - Case Study Example

Name: Course: College: Tutor: Date: Performance of primary health care of patients with chronic diseases in Australia PHC (primary health care) plays a critical task in the delegation of services allied to health care. PHC endeavors at ensuring coverage of health care at community levels by means of involving the communities in enhancing their healthy lifestyles (Obioha and Molale 73). PHC provides care and treatment in scale endorsed by referral and home-based system. Whilst PHC remains global, its functioning and operation within the sector of community health provision differs across communities and regions. The government of Australia is familiar with the considerable burden chronic diseases are placing on individuals, their families, and the government (Commonwealth of Australia 9). Thus, the government commits towards the extensive prevention of chronic diseases and their allied complications. This entry endeavors at analyzing the performance of primary health care of patients with chronic diseases in Australia. The health care system of Australia is among the top performing systems of health, exhibiting success in cost control as well as attaining superlative outcomes. Despite these accomplishments, principal concerns lie within the coordination and quality of prevention and care. Chronic conditions, including chronic diseases seem to attain epidemic proportions with incidents of safety and quality of hospital care receiving massive attention. The health policy of Australia endeavors at improving the wellbeing of the underprivileged populace via laying special focus of the primary health care (PHC). PHC entails a comprehensive approach to health systems that was developed in collaboration with the communities as well as the government. It covers health promotion, rehabilitation, prevention, and treatment. In the context of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, Australian PHC aims at helping in addressing treatment and care, economic and social implications of chronic diseases, and prevention. The PHC program campaigns for a multisectoral strategy to cope with chronic diseases, as the pandemic does not represent merely a health catastrophe. The interventions designed to counter the pandemic ought to consider its intricate causes. The PHC service in patients with chronic diseases There is an escalating prevalence of chronic illnesses in Australia. Even though preventable fatalities from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases have realized a decrease, chronic illnesses like diabetes are on the verge of rise. This owes to the rise in the ageing populace on top of worsening of several risk factors allied to chronic illnesses. Accordingly, Australia is facing an increased demand on health care services, which places an economic and social burden to the society (Commonwealth of Australia 9). PHC plays a significant task in preventing the commencement of chronic illnesses, with special focus on lifestyle risks associated with alcohol, tobacco, diabetes, and obesity. The service has identified numerous options for attaining future success, which include to endorse brief interventions, health risk evaluation, various referral services, patient registration, preventive care financial incentives, and further research, and addressing needs for the socially disadvantaged populations. The PHC services chronic illnesses has realized developments within the nursing sector and allied health as well as the establishment of novel primary health institutes, which draw together a wide array of community interests and health professionals. Within the context of chronic illnesses, the role of PHC includes health promotion, coordinating, planning, and executing systems for organizing care, patient education, self-management support, car coordination, and care planning, and identification of patients who are at risk of chronic diseases. In addition, PHC focuses on helping patients to set objectives allied to their illnesses, supporting patients to manage their conditions, and respecting the patients’ choices. The PHC nurses work in unison with members of the multidisciplinary practice teams. PHC nurses working within general practice endeavor at facilitating management of chronic illnesses as well as providing preventive care as they bring in a wide array of skills and knowledge to their roles that are unique to their field. The identified roles comprise of quality controller, connectivity agent, problem solver, patient carer, and educator. Does PHC among patients with chronic illnesses address community needs? PHC among patients with chronic diseases addresses community need through voluntary enrolment. Voluntary management is an effectual means of measuring and managing service needs. Accordingly, it enhances the patients’ freedom of choice, and endorses the potential of improving permanence of care. Additionally, PHC collaborates with Medicare Locals during planning of population health and service delivery. PHC nurses are using patient record digitalized databases to discover trends and profiles of chronic illnesses, which help them plan their health services within the communities. PHC practitioners are ideally placed, and from their practical experience, they are capable of diagnosing where the gaps are within patients’ access to care within the communities. This info is fed to Medicare Locals to assist in developing, tailoring, and application of programs that aim at meeting the needs of chronic illness patients within the communities. Accessibility of PHC services among patients with chronic illnesses PHC services remain available within the society. Australians have access to PHC services, predominantly those offered through community care, hospital care, and general practice. Some of the health care services that were initially offered within hospitals have been made available within the communities. For instance, within the contemporary PHC setting, chemotherapy and dialysis can be acquired within the community (Commonwealth of Australia 10). The required PHC services, which are culturally and clinically appropriate to the circumstances and needs of the people, have been made available to all Australians. At the heart of an effectual and high performing PHC service is access to appropriate PHC services. This implies being capable of seeing the suitable health professionals, within the appropriate place and time, and in a reasonably priced and culturally appropriate manner. Conversely, while a majority of Australians has access to PHC services, there are various populations and regions facing substantial access gaps. In this context, persons with utmost health requirements or encountering considerable disadvantage frequently face hardships accessing the necessary PHC services. Successes of PHC services among patients with chronic illnesses In Australia, PHC providers provide patients with chronic illnesses with evidence-based patient care (Lazakidou 35). Critical info issues comprise of compatibility, privacy, and ownership as part of quality PHC. The Divisions of General Practice plays a critical role in endorsing general PHC practices to offer systematic care through broadcasting evidence-based guidelines, supporting self-management and shared care education, synchronizing local registers for audit and recall, educating consumers and practitioners, and offering allied health services (Nolte, Knai and McKee 150). Within the sector of PHC of patients with chronic illnesses, Australia is making progress as compared to other PHC sectors. This sector is realizing an increasing emphasis on training more health personnel to work within the remote areas. Moreover, there are incentive schemes aimed at attracting PHC practitioners within parts of Australia facing workforce shortages. The chronic illness sector has realized the importance of accessibility to effective PHC services as terminal illnesses increase. Hence, PHC organizations are endorsing the integration of health services to improve delivery of PHC services at the local level (Oliver 210). PHC providers are making it possible for community health clinics to endorse patients suffering from chronic illnesses. They do this by making follow-ups with patients after visits, offering advice on means of improving lifestyles, and regular health screening. Within the recent years, Australia has changed financing as well as offered additional payments to PHC providers to prioritize the services offered to patients with chronic illnesses (OECD 18). Challenges facing of PHC services among patients with chronic illnesses In spite of evidence of chronic diseases prevention measures within PHC, there are gaps in preventative care as well as inequalities in access by the underprivileged groups. The Commonwealth of Australia has found that Australia is facing uneven provision of PHC services among patients with chronic illnesses (11). The inverse law remains manifest as a common shortcoming to delivery of PHC services. In this perspective, persons with utmost means, and whose requirements for health care are less, acquire most care. On the contrary, persons with least means, and utmost health needs, attain the least care. Therefore, public expenditure on health care tends to benefit the wealthy populace at the expense of the underprivileged populace. Equally, Aboriginal Australians remains at greater risks of chronic illnesses. However, they miss opportunities for PHC services. Even though Aboriginal people’s health checks receive funding under Medicare as well as incentives that support prevention of chronic illnesses, there are minimal rates of recognition of Aboriginality (Harris and Lloyd 12). In spite of the disparities apparent in the provision of PHC services between the wealthy and the underprivileged communities, the prevalence of chronic illnesses remains high among the poor (Harris and Lloyd 1). The economic and social health determinants tend to influence chronic diseases as well as their allied risk factors. Social factors are responsible for influencing health inequities, such as the unjust and preventable disparities in health statuses, the gradient between the high-income and the low-income populations, and education, and social statuses. For instance, there exists social gradient within the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases according to income and education. Moreover, there are social gradients within the prevalence of risky consumption of alcohol, and smoking with income and education. Hence, the prevalence of chronic illnesses continues to rise among the poor who hardly have the PHC services. The sector of acute care is increasingly typified by high throughput, high technology, and reduced duration of stay, thus resulting in demands on convalescent, post acute, and step down care (Commonwealth of Australia 10). The resulting tendency of shorter episodes of hospital care as well as increased number of daytime surgery procedures indicate that more patients are on discharge. Consequently, these patients require more complex and greater care from PHC providers. Moreover, PHC providers who deal with chronic illnesses are facing the challenge of dealing with incredibly intricate illnesses that ought to be dealt with in hospitals. For instance, changes to the mental wellness services are increasing the demand on PHC services. PHC providers are providing ongoing care for people with such complex needs (Commonwealth of Australia 11). PHC is not merely suffering from inequitable distribution of the workforce but also from the ageing populace of the workforce. According to the 2006 census, Australia had 548,000 workers within the health sector. Of this, merely 25% were deployed within the PHC sector (Commonwealth of Australia 12). Besides, the health care personnel are ageing. The 2006 census portrayed that 16 percent of the workforce is aged 55 years and above (Commonwealth of Australia 12). The average age of the health care personnel was 42 years, which is three years older than people within the workforce are. Furthermore, there is mal-distribution of PHC providers within all territories. The remote and regional Australia is experiencing shortages of health care providers. Increasingly, shortages of health care providers remains manifest within the disadvantaged urban regions. Conclusion Australia has assumed numerous services within the sector of PHC. Owing to rise of terminal illnesses within Australia, the PHC sector of the country has embraced on massive efforts to deal with patients with chronic diseases. However, even though the health care system of Australia is among the top performing systems of health, the PHC sector of patients with chronic illnesses has not been without challenges. The principal challenge lies in the disparities in provision of PHC services among diverse communities. Nevertheless, the health system of Australia is endorsing numerous measures to fill in the gaps apparent in provision of PHC services. It is thus recommendable to adopt appropriate reforms within the sectors of patient enrolment, funding, and organization of PHC services. Recommendations Reforms to patient enrolment, funding, organization of primary care, workforce, and structure are critical to execution and maintenance of preventative activities within PHC of people with chronic illnesses. It remains vital for the PHC services of people with chronic illnesses within Australia to efficiently and effectively offer an appropriate extent of clinically pertinent services to the disadvantaged populace within the communities. Any reform to PHC system ought to acknowledge that the present system is reasonable for majority of the Australians, but it could operate better for all Australian populations. Hence, there should be examination and deliberation of where fundamental modifications are required as well as where the strong points of the present PHC system should be maintained, build upon, or amended. Works Cited Commonwealth of Australia. ‘Building a 21st Century Primary Health Care System.’ Department of Health and Ageing, 2010. Print. Commonwealth of Australia. ‘Primary Health Care Reform in Australia.’ Australia: Commonwealth of Australia, 2009. Print. Harris, Mark and Jane Lloyd. ‘The Role of Australian Primary Health Care in the Prevention of Chronic Disease.’ Australian National Preventive Health Agency, 2012. Print. Lazakidou, Athina. ‘Handbook of Research on Informatics in Healthcare and Biomedicine.’ London: Idea Group Inc, 2006. Print. Nolte, Ellen, Cecile Knai and Martin McKee. ‘Managing Chronic Conditions: Experience in Eight Countries.’ London: WHO Regional Office Europe, 2008. Print. Obioha, Emeka and Masemote Molale. ‘Functioning and Challenges of Primary Health Care (PHC) Program in Roma Valley, Lesotho.’ Ethnographical Medicine, 5.2 (2011): 73-88. Print. OECD. ‘OECD Reviews of Health Care Quality.’ Israel: OECD Publishing, 2012. Print. Oliver, David. ‘End of Life Care in Neurological Disease.’ New York: Springer, 2012. Print. Read More