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Most people aged 15 years and over accessed a GP during the previous year. The graph below shows that GPs were the most common health service accessed in 2013–14, with eight out of ten people (82.2%) seeing a GP at least once in the previous 12 months. Dental professionals were the second most common health service accessed (49.7%), followed by medical specialists (36.2%). These patterns have remained steady across the five cycles of the survey (2009 to 2013–14). (Tables 1 and 2.2)

Visits to GPs were also related to health characteristics, with people who rated their health as fair or poor being more likely to see a GP than those who rated their health as good, very good or excellent (94.8% compared with 80.4%). Further to this, people with a long term health condition were more likely to see a GP (93.6%) than those without a long term health condition (71.4%). (Tables 1, 2.2 and 3.2)

WAITING TIMES

Difficulties in obtaining appointments for GPs can be both frustrating and sometimes even have a detrimental effect on a person's overall health. Of those who saw a GP in the previous 12 months, one in five (22.6%) people waited longer than they felt acceptable to get an appointment with a GP. Females were more likely than males to report waiting longer than felt acceptable (25.5% compared with 19.2%). Acceptable waiting times was also related to age, with people aged 15–64 more likely to report waiting longer than felt acceptable compared with those aged 65 and over (24.9% compared with 13.9%). (Tables 5.1 and 5.2)

People living in outer regional, remote or very remote areas of Australia were more likely to wait longer than felt acceptable to get an appointment with a GP (28.5%) than those living in inner regional Australia (23.7%) or major cities (21.5%). (Table 6.2)

BARRIERS

One of the benefits of a household based survey is that data can be collected from those who did not access health services as well as from those that did. It is therefore possible to obtain information from people who may have needed to access a health service, but did not access this service, and the reasons they did not access the health service.

In 2013–14, of those who needed to see a GP in the previous 12 months, 1 in 20 (4.9%) delayed seeing or did not see a GP at least once because of the cost. People living in outer regional, remote or very remote areas of Australia were more likely to delay seeing or not see a GP due to cost than those living in major cities (6.0% compared with 4.3%). (Table 6.2)

AFTER HOURS GP CARE

After hours GPs provide more flexibility and convenience in accessing health care when required. This in turn may alleviate pressure on the wider health system, as people with non-life threatening illnesses or injuries are able to visit an after hours GP instead of visiting an Emergency Department.

In 2013–14, one in twelve people saw an after hours GP in the previous 12 months (8.1%). As with other health services, more females than males saw an after hours GP (9.4% compared with 6.8%). (Table 2.2)

People with a long term health condition were more likely to see an after hours GP than those without a long term health condition (9.6% compared with 6.7%). Similarly, those who rated their health as fair or poor were more likely to see an after hours GP than those who rated their health as excellent, very good, or good (12.4% compared with 7.3%). (Table 3.2)

People living in major cities were more likely to see an after hours GP than those living in outer regional, remote or very remote areas of Australia (8.6% compared with 7.2%). (Table 3.2)

One in four people (25.2%) who needed to see an after hours GP did not see one at all. When asked the main reason why they did not go, just under half reported that the service was not available when required (41.5%), 11.4% reported that the waiting time was too long and a further 9.9% reported cost.

Of those who saw an after hours GP, the type of clinic most visited was a regular general practice (40.4%), followed by a late night clinic (26.2%) then an after hours clinic at a hospital (18.7%). A further 12.9% received a home visit from a GP. (Table 7.2)

EXPERIENCE WITH GPs

The way that a patient is treated by a health professional is an important aspect of their satisfaction with their care. All respondents who had seen a GP were asked for their perceptions on how they were treated by the GPs they had seen.

Of those who had seen a GP in the previous 12 months, 71.5% reported that the GP always listened carefully to them, 77.5% reported that they always showed them respect and 72.2% reported that they always spent enough time with them. Similar patterns were reported by male and female patients. (Table 6.2)