In a recent report issued by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in the year 2014-2015, only 21 per cent of patients reported waiting longer than they deemed acceptable. While 21 per cent may still be considered unacceptable, it is a drop from the 23 per cent reported in 2013-14.
“In particular, a lower proportion of people in outer regional, remote and very remote areas reported waiting longer than they felt acceptable for a GP appointment, decreasing from 29 per cent in 2013-14 to 23 per cent in 2014-15″, said Louise Gates from the ABS
And it seems we’re quite happy with the service we receive from our GPs, with 72 per cent of patients reporting that they felt their GP spent enough time with them and listened to what they were saying. For emergency doctors the numbers dropped to 66 per cent who thought they spent enough time with them as a patient and 69 per cent who considered they listened carefully enough.
Women are also more likely than men to see a GP, with 88 per cent of females compared with 78 per cent of men visiting their doctor in the last year. And the cost of seeing a GP discouraged five per cent of people from seeking treatment.
The results also showed that while dentists received the highest satisfaction rating, people were more likely to put off a visit to the dentist, with 20 per cent reporting that they delayed a visit due to cost.
However, when it comes to coordinated health care, 13 per cent claimed that lack of communication between the health professionals involved caused issues with their treatment.
Read more at ABS.gov.au
Have you experienced excessive waiting times to see a GP? Have you ever put off seeing a GP because of cost? Does your GP give you enough time and listen to what you are saying?
