 | MEDIA RELEASE | |
| 25 November 2011 | Embargoed: 11.30 am (AEST) | 148/2011 |
Most of us happy with our health service providers
At least 80% of people felt their health professional always or often spent enough time with them, listened carefully to them and had shown them respect according to a new report released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
When asked if they felt that their health professional had spent enough time with them:
· 95% felt that dental professionals had always or often done so;
· 88% felt that GPs had always or often done so, and
· 80% felt that emergency department doctors and specialists had always or often done so.
However, over a quarter of Australians found cost a barrier in seeing a dental professional (26%), while 12% delayed seeing or did not see a specialist and 8% delayed seeing or did not see a GP in the last 12 months due to the cost.
Four out of five people had seen a general practitioner (GP) in the last 12 months, with 18% of them for urgent medical care. A third of people had seen a medical specialist and half had seen a dental professional in this time.
Just over 15% of Australians who had seen a GP felt that they had waited longer than acceptable to get an appointment.
For the three out of every five people needing to see a GP for urgent care, over half had seen one within 4 hours. Just under one in ten people, however, did not see a GP until two or more days after making an appointment for care they considered to be urgent.
Further details can be found in 4839.0 Patient Experiences in Australia: Summary of Findings.
Media note:
When reporting ABS data the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
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