Primary health

Primary health care is usually the first contact you have with health professionals – for example, when you visit your doctor or nurse, or when a nurse visits you.

It is not hospital care, but professional health care in the community where you and your family live and work. Your family doctor (GP) and nurses provide most of your primary health care.

Primary health care covers a broad range of services outside hospitals to improve your health through measures such as health education and counselling, disease prevention and screening.