GP Recruitment
Elderly patients and GP home visits: why clinic attendance is a genuine barrier to care
95% of older Australians see a GP. They generate 30% of all unreferred GP attendances nationally. And a significant proportion face genuine barriers to clinic attendance during business hours that a daytime home visit removes. The data — and what it means for GPs considering C.A.L.L.S. Sources at the end.
AIHW data on older Australians shows that most (95%) older Australians see a GP. In 2019-20, there were 43 million Medicare claims for unreferred GP attendances for people aged 65 and over — 30% of all unreferred GP attendance claims nationally. This is your largest and most consistent patient cohort for home visiting.
Why older Australians need home visits
Older Australians see GPs significantly more often than the general population. The barriers that make clinic attendance difficult for this group are not preferences — they are physical and logistical realities. Transport dependency increases as driving ceases. Fatigue from chronic illness makes journeys difficult. Mobility limitations make getting in and out of cars and navigating clinic environments genuinely taxing. For a frail 80-year-old, the effort of a clinic visit can be clinically counterproductive when the visit itself causes exhaustion or risk of falls.
GEN Aged Care Data shows that at 30 June 2025, approximately 800,000 older Australians were using home support and over 280,000 were using Home Care Packages — meaning they have already had their need for in-home services formally assessed and approved. These are patients who have been specifically identified as needing support at home. Many of them still need regular GP care — and many of them find getting to a clinic during business hours genuinely difficult.
The continuity of care evidence
Research published in 2026 by Flinders University's ROSA Research Centre, analysing health outcomes for more than 120,000 Australians aged 65 and over receiving long-term home care, found that patients who continued seeing their usual GP had an 18 to 28 per cent lower risk of going to an emergency department or hospital compared with those who frequently saw new doctors. A previous ROSA study of more than 330,000 residents across 3,000 aged care facilities found that residents who maintained their usual GP experienced 8% fewer emergency department presentations, 6% fewer unplanned hospitalisations, 11% fewer fall-related hospitalisations, and 21% fewer dementia-related hospitalisations.
This is not a marginal finding. It is a robust, large-sample result showing that GP continuity for elderly patients has measurable, clinically significant outcomes on hospitalisation rates. A home visiting GP who builds relationships with elderly patients over time is delivering something the fragmented, see-whoever-is-available bulk billing system cannot — and the data shows clearly that it matters.
The daytime dimension
After-hours GP home visit services operate specifically outside standard business hours — evenings, weekends, and public holidays. Elderly patients who need ongoing, regular GP care need it during business hours — for monitoring appointments, medication reviews, care plan management, and the routine contact that supports their health at home. After-hours deputising services are designed for acute, episodic presentations. They are not designed for the regular, relationship-based primary care that older patients need and that the evidence shows reduces their hospitalisation risk.
Perth Home GP, which founded its service specifically to address the daytime home visit gap, explicitly targets elderly patients and individuals with disabilities as the core of its Regular Care program — patients who cannot access a bricks and mortar clinic. The service has operated continuously since 2020. No national equivalent exists. C.A.L.L.S is filling that gap in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide.
What this means for GPs joining C.A.L.L.S
The elderly patient cohort is the most stable, highest-frequency, and most clinically meaningful patient group for a GP home visit practice. These patients see their GP regularly, need continuity of care, and the evidence shows that continuity with a specific GP has measurable outcomes on their health. A GP who joins C.A.L.L.S and builds relationships with elderly patients in their service area is building a practice with a patient base that will grow with Australia's ageing population, not compete against a saturated market.
Join C.A.L.L.S
Build a patient base that grows with Australia's ageing population.
Flat monthly membership. No commission. You set your fee, hours, and service area. GPS-tracked dispatch. Payment held in trust, released on visit completion.
Apply to join C.A.L.L.SFrequently asked questions
Do most older Australians see a GP?
Yes — 95% of older Australians see a GP, according to AIHW. In 2019-20, people aged 65 and over generated 43 million Medicare claims for unreferred GP attendances — 30% of all such claims nationally.
Does continuity of GP care matter for elderly patients?
Yes — significantly. ROSA Research Centre found that elderly home care patients who continued seeing their usual GP had an 18-28% lower risk of hospitalisation compared with those who frequently saw new doctors (Flinders University 2026).