All Medicare-eligible consultations are bulk billed for patients with a valid Medicare card. Some items, including privately purchased vaccines and consumables, attract a fee.
These four come up constantly and are rarely volunteered. All of them are fixable. Tap each one.
Four things worth mentioning
A fall is the single most useful piece of information an older person can give their GP, and it is the one most often left out because it felt embarrassing or trivial. A first fall is the best possible moment to prevent the second.
“I had a fall a little while ago.”Plenty of people quietly stop a tablet because of a side effect, the cost, or simply because there are too many. Your GP needs the real list to make safe decisions, and stopping a medicine on purpose is often the right call anyway.
“There are a couple I've stopped taking.”Memory changes have many causes, and several of them — thyroid, vitamin B12, medication, depression, hearing loss — are treatable. Raising it early gets those ruled in or out while it is still straightforward.
“My memory isn't what it was.”Small practical difficulties are where support makes the most difference, and they are the least likely to be mentioned. Say what is genuinely harder than it used to be, even if you have found a way around it.
“A few things at home have got harder.”Open any of these for what it involves. Most of it happens at the annual assessment, but any of it can be its own appointment.
75+ assessment
What happens A long appointment that steps back and looks at the whole picture rather than one problem — health, medicines, mobility, memory, mood, hearing, vision, home safety and what support might help.
Everyone aged 75 and over is entitled to this assessment annually, and it is bulk billed with a valid Medicare card. It is one of the most useful appointments in general practice and one of the least used.
It routinely turns up things nobody had mentioned — a medicine that is no longer needed, a hearing problem being mistaken for memory loss, a rug that has already caused one stumble.
Medicines
What happens Every medicine reviewed together — what it is for, whether it is still needed, whether the dose still suits you and whether any two of them are working against each other.
Medicines accumulate. One gets added by a specialist, another after a hospital stay, and nobody stands back and looks at the whole list. Reducing it safely is frequently the most valuable thing a GP does for an older patient.
Your GP can also arrange a Home Medicines Review, where a pharmacist visits you at home, goes through everything and reports back.
Falls
What happens Your GP looks for the reasons — blood pressure that drops on standing, medicines that cause drowsiness, poor vision, weak legs, unsafe footwear, hazards at home — and deals with the ones that can be dealt with.
Falls are not an inevitable part of getting older. Most have identifiable causes and a good proportion of those are treatable.
Strength and balance work genuinely reduces falls, and a care plan brings in subsidised physiotherapy or exercise physiology to do it properly.
Vaccinations
What happens Influenza each year, pneumococcal, shingles and COVID-19 boosters as recommended. Several of these are free under the National Immunisation Program for people in your age group.
Shingles is considerably more common and more severe with age, and the vaccine is funded for older adults — many people have no idea they are eligible.
Your GP will check what you have already had, what is funded for you and what is due.
Planning ahead
What happens A conversation about what matters to you if you became unwell — and getting it written down while it is straightforward rather than urgent.
Advance care planning, enduring guardianship, and a discussion with the people who might one day have to speak for you. These conversations are far easier held early and calmly.
Your GP can also help with My Aged Care assessments, home support and, where the time comes, residential care.
It is bulk billed, it takes about an hour, and most eligible people have never had one. Tap a card.
An annual health assessment, funded by Medicare, every year.
The whole picture, including the parts a fifteen-minute appointment never reaches.
Bulk billed for patients with a valid Medicare card on weekdays. Weekend arrangements differ — please check with reception.
What happens across the appointment, and why each part is there. Tap any card.
Ask reception for a health assessment and say your age. They will book the right length — this is not a standard appointment.
Flip backEvery medicine, your glasses, your hearing aids, and someone with you if you would like. Two people remember more than one.
Flip backBlood pressure sitting and standing, weight, and a look at how you walk and turn. The walking tells your GP a great deal.
Flip backMemory, mood, sleep, continence, appetite, alcohol. Routine questions asked of everyone, not because anyone suspects anything.
Flip backThe whole list laid out. This is where medicines that are no longer needed get stopped, which is often the most useful part.
Flip backHow you are managing with showering, stairs, shopping, cooking and driving — and what help is available for the parts that have got harder.
Flip backWhat you are due for and what is funded for your age, including shingles, which many people do not know they are eligible for.
Flip backA written summary, referrals where they help, and a date for next year booked before you leave.
Flip backTap whatever applies and print it. Bring it with you — it makes the assessment far more useful than being asked to remember on the spot.
Continuity matters more with age than at any other point. Book with the same GP where you can, and ask reception to keep your assessments with them.
Our GPs hold general registration with AHPRA. Areas listed are special interests within general practice rather than recognised specialist registration. Every one of our doctors provides this. If the GP you usually see is booked, any of the others can help — your records are shared across the practice, so nobody is starting from scratch.
Pick your situation and what you're coming in for. We'll show you what to expect before you book.
What are you coming in for?
Figures shown are what you pay at the clinic for the appointment itself. Medicines, devices, imaging and specialist fees are set elsewhere. Reception will always confirm the cost with you before anything goes ahead.
An annual appointment for everyone aged 75 and over that reviews your whole health picture — medicines, mobility, memory, mood, hearing, vision, continence, nutrition and how you are managing at home. It is bulk billed with a valid Medicare card and takes about an hour.
No. It is designed for people who are well, and finding things early is precisely the point.
Yes, on weekdays, with a valid Medicare card.
Yes, and it is a good idea. A partner or adult child often remembers things you have mentioned at home and forgotten in the room.
Often, yes, and reducing them safely is one of the most valuable things a GP can do. Bring every medicine, including the ones you have stopped, and ask about a Home Medicines Review with a pharmacist.
Tell us, even if you were not hurt and nobody saw. Falls usually have identifiable causes — blood pressure, medicines, vision, strength — and a first fall is the best opportunity to prevent the second.
Shingles vaccination is funded under the National Immunisation Program for eligible older adults, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from a younger age. Your GP will check what applies to you.
Your GP will ask about it properly and look for the treatable causes first — thyroid, vitamin B12, medication, depression, hearing loss. Where further assessment is needed, they will explain what that involves and arrange it.
Yes. Your GP can refer you for an assessment for home support or higher levels of care, and can talk through what each level actually provides.
Your GP can talk it through and help you record what matters to you. It is far easier to have this conversation calmly and early than at a point where it has become urgent.
It is bulk billed, it happens once a year, and it reaches things that a standard appointment never gets near. If you are over 75, ring and ask for one.
The annual health assessment from 75, medication reviews, falls prevention, memory concerns and care planning, with long appointments so nothing is rushed. Family members are welcome to come along.
We are in Salamander Bay Shopping Centre with free parking, and patients come from across Port Stephens and the Tomaree Peninsula, including Nelson Bay, Corlette, Soldiers Point, Anna Bay, Lemon Tree Passage and Medowie.
Book online with HotDoc at any hour, or call (02) 4008 4400.
From the health journal
