Medical Clinics & An Ageing Population

An Ageing Population Is Placing Pressure on Medical Clinics

There have been huge advances in medicine, especially during the past three to four decades. Infant mortality rates have fallen, while average life expectancy has increased. With age, however, comes the inevitable consequences of ageing and the longer one lives, the more frequent those visits to the local medical clinic become.

Inevitably, an ageing population has led to an increase in the demand for GP appointments. However, the effect of the increased demand has simply been that most patients are now forced to wait longer for a vacant appointment slot. To overcome the problem, in some European countries where healthcare is state-funded, general practitioners are being pressured to limit the length of each consultation to just seven or eight minutes. Clearly, this is not the most desirable solution.

Intercare has adopted a different solution for its medical clinics. Rather than long waiting lists or curtailed consultation times, the group has chosen to extend the operating hours of its healthcare facilities. Not only are they open for longer on weekdays, but Intercare patients can also arrange for an appointment over the weekend and even on a public holiday. To facilitate matters even further, as well as the option to phone the nearest Intercare centre to arrange an appointment, patients can also make use of the group’s quick and simple online booking service.

While already going the extra mile by extending its operating hours, an Intercare medical clinic is also exceptional in a number of other ways. Just for a start, our centres are multidisciplinary, so patients have access not only to a GP but also to a dentist, a physiotherapist, a psychologist, a dietician, an audiologist, or an optometrist if required. Each facility also provides pathology, radiology, and pharmacy services, and that’s not all.

While they are not intended to function as trauma units, each Intercare medical clinic is equipped to treat injuries and illnesses that require immediate attention but which do not justify calling on a hospital’s emergency services. A patient experiencing abdominal or back and neck pain, fever, an allergic reaction, diarrhoea and vomiting, or a similar problem may simply walk in to receive attention without the need for an appointment.

In addition to its primary-care and walk-in services, our facilities cater to those in need of chronic care. Patients with hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, or asthma, for example, receive the support they need to live their lives to the full rather than becoming victims of their condition.

Wellness and screening programmes, plus facilities for the Discovery Vitality programme, are further reasons why Intercare medical clinics are unique.