4343.0 - Survey of Health Care, Australia, 2016
Quality Declaration

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/09/2017 First Issue
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GENERAL PRACTITIONER
General practitioners (GPs) are widely used in Australia and are many Australians’ first point of contact for health issues. People access GPs for a variet of reasons including short-term illnesses, preventive health practices and management of long term health conditions. It is therefore important that people are able to access a GP in a timely manner and receive care that meets their needs, both in terms of ease of access and the quality of care provided. This chapter presents data on people who saw a GP, or needed to see a GP but did not, for their own health in the last 12 months. Respondents were asked about the frequency of their visits, the services they had used, waiting times, barriers to accessing care as well as their experience with their GP.
People aged 65 years and over were almost twice as likely to have seen a GP 12 or more times compared with those aged 45 to 64 years (21% compared with 11%). Footnote(s): (a) For persons aged 45 years and over who had at least one GP visit in the 12 months between November 2014 and November 2015 (b) Saw a GP in the 12 months prior to selection (November 2014 to November 2015) but did not see a GP in the 12 months prior to responding to the survey (see the Explanatory Notes for more information) Source(s): Survey of Health Care: Summary of Findings AFTER HOURS GP CARE People aged 65 years and over were more likely to have indicated they were prescribed medications for their emotional or psychological health compared with people aged 45 to 64 years (52% compared with 45%). In contrast, people aged 65 years and over were less likely to indicate they were referred to a psychologist, psychiatrist or counsellor compared with people aged 45 to 64 years (21% compared with 33%). Access to services is an important contributor to good health. Timely access to GPs can decrease burden on other parts of the health system and potentially prevent hospitalisations1. Almost one quarter of people (23%) indicated that there was a time they felt they needed to see a GP but did not go. People aged 45 to 64 years were more than twice as likely not to see a GP when they felt they needed to, compared with people aged 65 years and over (30% compared with 14%). Footnote(s): (a) For persons aged 45 years and over who had at least one GP visit in the 12 months between November 2014 and November 2015 Source(s): Survey of Health Care: Summary of Findings 1 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ‘Admitted patient care 2015–16: Australian hospital statistics’ http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129559537; last accessed 15/09/2017. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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