Once I became a pensioner I became a nobody - a non entity: the story of one woman's experience of the health care system

Abstract

This article highlights one socially isolated older person’s experiences of ageing in a large metropolitan Australian location and the problems she encounters in attempting to access appropriate and timely health care. As society moves into a phase of rapid demographic ageing, this personal account provides health professionals with an in-depth insight in to what it can be like to live in social isolation as one ages and needs ever increasing health care. Win is part of a larger study investigating difficulties encountered by socially isolated older people in accessing health care needs, and preferred her real name to be used for this article. All other names used are fictitious to preserve anonymity.