Every year the local Primary Health Network releases what is called the “Health Needs Assessment”. This is a document that tracks all sorts of outcomes for the region in some detail. Indeed, the South Eastern Primary Health Network document for 2025 is 198 pages. Here is a link to that document for anyone who’s keen! https://www.semphn.org.au/semphn-health-needs-assessment-updated-with-latest-2025-data
For our purposes, if you turn to page 72 of the document, you’ll find a section dedicated to the population aged over 65 years. Here, there’s some useful data, including:
- 76.7% of hospitalisations were related to injuries and the majority of those injuries were caused by falls.
- Heart disease was the most common cause of chronic disease.
Furthermore, the Gippsland Primary Health Network also released a document sharing the causes of preventable hospital admissions. You can find that here https://gphn.org.au/publications/ under 2024 Releases, Keeping People Out Of Hospital. Some of the reasons included:
- Iron deficiency
- Urinary tract infections
- Cellulitis
Putting this all together, there is a lot you can do these days when you’re older to stay out of hospital. These are:
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Understand your heart health. This importantly includes knowing that your blood pressure is well controlled. There are so many ways between lifestyle measures and medications to do this, but the first part of that is knowing what it is! When you come to the doctor, make sure you get it measured. Better still, have a blood pressure machine at home, and measure it for 1 week in a regimented way, record those results and bring them with you to the doctor. Here is a link to a Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Notebook you can use for that purpose - https://www.mshomecare.com.au/resources/. The way to check is by taking it twice in the morning separated by 1 minute, and twice in the evening separated by 1 minute. You can then calculate the average with your GP. Your heart health can also be understood by considering a low dose CT scan called a CT Coronary Angiogram (CTCA). This is an increasingly common non-invasive way to see whether your arteries have any blockages. I’d highly recommend talking to your GP about whether you should have a CTCA. It could help you know if you need to fix something, before you have a problem, that is, a heart attack.
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Know your iron level. Low iron is relatively common. There are different causes of course. But essentially, you’re either not eating enough foods with iron, your body isn’t absorbing the iron, or you’re losing blood from somewhere, often unbeknownst to you. On the third point, it’s important to consider that if your iron is low, and you don’t know why, then you should consider whether it could be from your gastrointestinal tract, particularly your large bowel. In this case, it may be worthwhile having a colonoscopy to make sure you don't have a polyp or detect an early bowel cancer that could be the cause. Whatever the cause though, the result of having low iron can be significant. Iron carries oxygen around the body and is an important part of your immune system. So you could end up feeling tired, dizzy and more prone to infections. Due to decreased oxygen in your blood, low iron puts a strain on organs in your body that are especially active such as your heart and brain. That could increase your chance of getting chest pain and headache for example. It can also affect your breathing leading to increased shortness of breath and ultimately increase your likelihood to have a fall – to be avoided! And you can, by simply checking your iron level in your blood, and if it’s low, deciding how to fix it, and once again, considering what the cause may be.
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Urinary Tract Infections (UTI). Once again, a common diagnosis especially for women. The symptoms of a UTI can be varied, ranging from specifically urinary frequency, pain, increased incontinence to rather generally nausea, dizziness, fatigue, confusion. So it’s important to keep it in mind that you could have a UTI if you’re just not feeling yourself, even in the absence of any real urinary symptoms. The most important thing about getting a UTI is to treat it as quickly as you can, generally with antibiotics. This is because in a relatively short period of time, the bacteria causing the infection can get into your blood leading to what’s known as “bacteraemia”. This can make you quite confused, once again – increasing your risk of falling! A bladder infection not treated can also spread to your kidneys which can go on to make you have significant back pain. The causes of a urinary infection can include a failure to empty your bladder, kidney stones and constipation (which can affect how fully you empty your bladder). Once again though, the message is, if you’re not sure if you have a UTI, get your urine checked early, and get treated early if you do.
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Cellulitis. This is essentially a skin infection that gets worse and goes deeper than the skin itself, to affect the underlying fat underneath. The usual place this can get particularly nasty, landing you in hospital, is on your legs. If you have cellulitis on your legs you may notice them to be red, swollen and painful. Some reasons you can get infections on your legs include dry, itchy skin which can be associated with varicose veins or eczema. Other reasons include if your legs tend to accumulate fluid from heart or kidney problems, or simply from sitting down in a chair for too long. Another reason is if you have diabetes because your immune system can be reduced from the condition making you more at risk of getting infections, including cellulitis. If you notice your legs getting swollen, red, warm or painful, see your GP. And as a tip, remember to keep your legs moving as much as you can, and elevated at least sometimes, if you sit in a chair a lot.
- Falls. It can happen just like that. One minute you’re absolutely fine, then the next, you trip over something, take a tumble and end up with a broken hip. I’m sure everyone knows someone that has been through it, perhaps even themselves. Falls are very common, and as the data shows lead to the vast majority of hospitalisations. So what can be done about it? Just try to keep it in your mind, without it causing too much anxiety. If you can remember that it’s always a risk, then the main thing is to remember is to lift your feet when you walk. So often, I’ve heard of people/patients just simply forgetting to lift their feet just that little bit, and they trip and fall. Something so simple. The irony is, whilst there are all sorts of falls and balance clinics, which are helpful, it seems that in the moment, it’s not all that exercise that actually stops you falling, it’s just forgetting to lift their feet, just that little bit. So remember – lift your feet!
Once again, it’s interesting to understand the data, and it’s better still to reflect on what happens and why, so that you can apply some parts to your own life, to stay out of hospital.
I hope that this short article has helped you, and if you think so, feel free to share it. The outcome that anyone is staying out of the hospital emergency department, if they can avoid it, is a big part of our mission :)
Author: Dr Floyd Gomes