HEALTH SERVICE USE
Definition
This topic refers to information collected about respondents':
- Consultations with health professionals (General Practitioners (GPs), specialists, dentists and/or other health professionals) in the last 12 months
- Use of medical facilities (hospitals, outpatient clinics, emergency/casualty and day clinics) in the last 12 months
- Discussion of lifestyle issues with a GP
- Time away from work or study/school due to the respondent's own illness or injury, or to care for someone else in the last 2 weeks..
Population
Information was obtained for all persons in the 2014-15 NHS.
Methodology
Information about health service use was first published in the
National Health Survey: First Results, 2014-15 based on a sample of 19,259 people. Additional health service use data was also published in
Health Service Usage and Health related Actions, Australia, 2014-15.
Respondents were asked whether they had taken any of the following actions in the last 12 months (shown on a prompt card):
- Consulted a GP
- Consulted a specialist
- Consulted a dentist
- Consulted other health professional
- Admitted to hospital as an inpatient
- Visited an outpatient clinic
- Visited emergency/casualty
- Visited a day clinic.
More than one response was allowed.
If they had consulted an 'other health professional' in the last 12 months, they were asked (excluding any time spent in hospital) which other health professional(s) they had consulted (shown on a prompt card):
- Aboriginal Health Worker
- Accredited counsellor
- Acupuncturist
- Alcohol and drug worker
- Audiologist/Audiometrist
- Chemist/Pharmacist (for advice only;
- Chiropodist/Podiatrist
- Chiropractor
- Diabetes educator
- Dietitian/Nutritionist
- Naturopath
- Herbalist
- Hypnotherapist
- Nurse
- Occupational therapist
- Optician/Optometrist/Orthoptist
- Osteopath
- Physiotherapist/Hydrotherapist
- Psychologist
- Radiographer;
- Social worker/Welfare officer;
- Sonographer
- Speech therapist/Pathologist
- Other.
More than one response was allowed.
Respondents who had consulted a GP, specialist or dentist, been admitted to hospital as an inpatient, visited an outpatient or day clinic, or visited emergency/casualty in the last 12 months were asked how many times they had done so during that period.
All respondents were asked when the last time was that they had consulted a GP and persons aged 2 years and over were asked when the was last time they had consulted a dentist or dental professional. Those who had consulted a GP and/or dentist in the last 12 months were provided with the following response options (shown on a prompt card):
- Less than 3 months ago
- 3 to less than 6 months ago
- 6 to less than 9 months ago
- 9 to 12 months ago
- Don't know.
Those who had not consulted a GP and/or dentist in the last 12 months were asked the same question, but were not provided a prompt card and interviewers recorded their responses as follows:
- 1 year to 2 years ago
- More than 2 years ago
- Never
- Don't know.
Respondents aged 15 years and over, who had consulted a GP in the last 12 months, were asked if they had discussed any of the following lifestyle issues with their GP in the last 12 months (shown on a prompt card):
- Reducing or quitting smoking;
- Drinking alcohol in moderation;
- Reaching a healthy weight;
- Increasing physical activity;
- Eating healthy food or improving their diet;
- Family planning
- Safe sexual practices.
Where this question was asked of a respondent aged 15-17 years, the interviewer was asked to identify whether a parent or guardian was present during the interview.
Respondents who were working, studying or at school were asked whether they had taken time off work or study/school, for more than half a day, in the last 2 weeks, as a result of illness or injury, or to care for someone else because they were sick or injured. If so, they were asked the number of days they stayed away. In cases where a respondent had identified that they were working or studying/at school, they were asked for each.
Data items
The questionnaire, data items and related output categories for this topic are available in pdf/Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.
Interpretation
Points to be considered when interpreting data for this topic include the following:
- Questions about days away from work or study/school for a respondent's own illness and/or caring purposes were not exclusive. It is not possible to determine a total count of days away, as it is not possible to determine whether there are overlapping days (for example, where respondents were away from both work and study/school on the same day, or where they were away for their own illness and caring purposes on the same day).
- Questions about days away from work were not asked in terms of a particular job. For persons with more than one job, the days away from work may not necessarily relate to the respondent's main job. While the effect of this is expected to be minor, it should be considered when, for example, analysing information on days away from work against reported occupation or industry of main job.
- Respondents may have had days away because of more than one condition at the same time, therefore number of days away for different conditions collected in the Actions module cannot be added together for total number of days away.
Comparability with 2011-12
Health Service Use data are considered directly comparable between the 2014-15 and 2011-12 NHS, however the following
minor changes to the module should be considered when using the data:
- The Health Service Use module was previously called the Healthy Lifestyles module in the 2011-12 NHS.
- Questions about actions taken in the last 2 weeks (e.g. consulted a GP, consulted a specialist, consulted an other health professional, admitted to hospital as an inpatient; visited an outpatient clinic, visited emergency/casualty, visited a day clinic) were not collected in the 2014-15 NHS.. The following items which were collected in 2011-12 were not collected in the 2014-15 NHS:
- Actions taken for health in last 2 weeks (excl dentist)
- Number of actions taken for health in last 2 weeks (excl dentist)
- Number of times consulted GP in last two weeks
- Whether discussed lifestyle issues with GP in the last 12 months
- Number of times consulted specialist in last two weeks
- Number of times admitted to hospital as inpatient in last two weeks
- Number of times visited day clinic in last two weeks
- Number of times visited emergency/casualty department in last two weeks
- Number of times visited outpatient clinic hospital in last two weeks
- Additional 'other health professionals' were included as response options in the 2014-15 NHS, including:
- Pharmacist
- Orthoptist;
- Orthotist/Prosthetists
- Radiographer
- Sonographer
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