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

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 into 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.