AgedCare+GP: description and evaluation of an in-house model of general practice in a residential aged-care facility

Abstract

This paper describes a medical model to provide in-house GP services to residents of aged-care facilities. Access to GP services for aged-care residents is decreasing, partially due to the changing demographic of the Australian GP workforce. The model we have developed is an in-house GP (AgedCare+GP) trialled in a publicly funded residential aged-care facility (RACF). The service model was based on the GP cooperative used in our after-hours general practice (AfterHours+GP). Briefly, the service model involves rostering a core group of GPs to provide weekly sessional clinics at the RACF. Financial contributions from appropriate Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items for aged-care planning (including chronic conditions) provided adequate funds to operate the clinic for RACF residents. Evaluation of the service model used the number of resident transfers to the local emergency department as the primary outcome measure. There were 37 transfers of residents in the 3 months before the commencement of the AgedCare+GP and 11 transfers over a 3-month period at the end of the first year of operation; a reduction of almost 70%. This project demonstrates that AgedCare+GP is a successful model for GP service provision to RACF residents, and it also reduces the number of emergency department transfers.