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released: 27 Aug 2003 media release

This report is the first study of GP encounters with older patients in Australia. It is a secondary analysis of data from the third and fourth years of the BEACH program.It describes the characteristics of older patients and the content of their GP encounters. Comparisons are made between the encounters with patients aged 65-74 years, and those aged 75 years or more. Results are also compared with an earlier study conducted in 1990-91.This report examines the management rates and prevalence of the most common chronic conditions. The characteristics of the patients, their problems and management are also examined for encounters at which an Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) item was recorded.

ISSN 1442 3022; ISBN 978 1 74024 292 9; Cat. no. GEP 12; 164pp.; OUT OF PRINT

  • Publication

Older patients attending general practice in Australia 2000-02

Full publication

Publication table of contents

  • Preliminary material (57K PDF)
    • Title page and verso
    • Foreword
    • Contents
    • List of tables and figures
    • Summary
    • Acknowledgements
  • Sections
    1. Introduction (41K PDF)
      1. Background
      2. Objectives
    2. Methods (37K PDF)
      1. The BEACH study
      2. Statistical method
    3. The GPs (14K PDF)
      1. Recruitment and participation
      2. The participating GPs
    4. The encounters (39K PDF)
      1. Representativeness of the sub sample
      2. Health Insurance Commission data
      3. BEACH-distribution of services
      4. Summary of morbidity and management
      5. Length of consultation
    5. The patients (31K PDF)
      1. Characteristics of the patients at encounter
      2. Patient reasons for encounter
      3. Most frequent individual reasons for encounter
    6. Problems (34K PDF)
      1. Problems managed by ICPC-2 chapter
      2. Most frequent individual problems managed
      3. Injuries
    7. Medications (26K PDF)
    8. Non-pharmacological treatments (21K PDF)
      1. Clinical treatments by age group
      2. Procedural treatments
    9. Referrals, tests and investigations (26K PDF)
      1. Referrals
      2. Pathology test orders
      3. Imaging orders
    10. Risk factors (45K PDF)
      1. Alcohol
      2. Smoking
      3. Body mass index
    11. Changes in morbidity and management over time (52K PDF)
      1. Changes over time in the morbidity and management of patients aged 65 years and over
      2. Problems managed in patients aged 65+
      3. Comparison of problems managed in the 65-74 year age group - AMTS and BEACH
      4. Comparison of problems managed in the 75+ age group - AMTS and BEACH
    12. Chronic conditions (50K PDF)
      1. Chronic conditions managed at encounter
      2. Prevalence and co-morbidities of the most common chronic conditions
      3. Comparison between the prevalence and management rates of chronic conditions
    13. Enhanced Primary Care (67K PDF)
      1. Comparison of BEACH dataset with national data
      2. Distribution of EPC items in BEACH across GPs
      3. 75+ health assessments
      4. Care plans
      5. Case conferences
    14. Discussion (72K PDF)
    15. Conclusion (13K PDF)
  • End Matter
    • References (55K PDF)
    • Glossary
    • Abbreviations
      • Appendix 1: Example of a recording form from BEACH 2000-01 recording year (81K PDF)
      • Appendix 2: Example of a recording form from BEACH 2001-02 recording year (309K PDF)
      • Appendix 3: GP characteristics questionnaire from BEACH 2000-01 recording year (63K PDF)
      • Appendix 4: GP characteristics questionnaire from BEACH 2001-02 recording year (71K PDF)
      • Appendix 5: Recording form used in the Australian Morbidity and Treatment Survey (AMTS) (1990-91) (147K PDF)
      • Appendix 6: Code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS (75K PDF)
      • Appendix 7: Chronic code groups from ICPC-2 and ICPC-2 PLUS (88K PDF)

Recommended citation

O'Halloran J, Britt H, Valenti L, Harrison C, Pan Y & Knox S 2003. Older patients attending general practice in Australia 2000-02. General Practice Series. Cat. no. GEP 12. Canberra: AIHW.