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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Problems found in the over-75s by the annual health check | | Author(s) | Ken Brown, Daphne Boot, Lindsay Groom |
| Journal title | British Journal of General Practice, vol 47, January 1997 |
| Pages | pp 31-35 |
| Keywords | General practice ; Health clinics ; Over 70s ; Screening. |
| Annotation | Research into older people's health has found problems unknown to their general practitioners (GPs). It was anticipated that annual checks, as required by the 1990 GP contract, would help to detect these problems, yet the value of these checks has been questioned. 40 practices were recruited to this study, and information was collected on patients over the age of 75 receiving a health check during a 3-month period. Practice staff were interviewed to find out how their assessments were organised. Practices saw a mean of 12% of their over 75s during the study. 44% were found to have at least one problem. Action was taken to help resolve problems in 82% of those with a problem. The most prevalent problems related to physical condition; fewer functional problems were found than expected. There were large differences between practices in the proportions of older patients seen for a check and those found to have problems; these were not attributable to practice size or demography. The argument in favour of conducting annual checks is supported, given that problems were identified. Some practices could increase their rate of uptake by modifying the organisation of assessment appointments. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980106226 A |
| Classmark | L5: L6: BBK: 3V * |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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