IN THIS ISSUE

Introduction

The ABS Patient Experience Survey is conducted annually and collects national data on access and barriers to a range of health care services, including general practitioners, medical specialists and dental professionals, imaging and pathology tests, and hospital/emergency visits. Data is also collected on aspects of communication between patients and health professionals.

This publication presents summary results of the 2010-11 Patient Experience Survey which is the second in the series. Time series results comparing data from the 2009 survey to this iteration are available but not examined in any detail in this publication as there was very little change in the need for services over the two years.

The Survey asked people about selected health services they may have used for their own health in the last 12 months, and the experiences they had with each service. All persons aged 15 years and over were asked whether they had:

• seen a general practitioner (GP)
• seen a medical specialist
• seen a dental professional
• been admitted to hospital
• visited a hospital emergency department
• had a pathology test
• had an imaging test.

Results are presented thematically, as follows:

General practitioners, medical specialists and dental professionals
Chapter 1 includes data on access and barriers to accessing general practitioners (GPs), medical specialists and dental professionals.

Hospital and emergency
Chapter 2 includes data on hospital and hospital emergency department admissions by frequency, treatment as a private or public patient and reasons for not seeing a GP.

Pathology and imaging
Chapter 3 includes data on pathology and imaging tests and their frequency and barriers to use.

Communication and satisfaction with health providers
Chapter 4 includes data on health providers and how often they listened carefully to, showed respect for and spent enough time with their patients.


Publication tables

The tables are available in Excel spreadsheet form (Data Cubes), which can be found on the download tab of the publication, (cat. no. 4839.0).


Rounding

As estimates have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals. Published proportions are calculated prior to rounding the estimates and therefore some discrepancy may occur between these proportions and those that are calculated from the rounded estimates.


Inquiries

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


Survey information

Information about the survey design and methodology, the quality and interpretation of results, and the range of publications and other data services available or planned is available in the Explanatory Notes.