Patient experiences

This section presents data for the patient experience indicators supplied by Australia to the HCQO collection. It compares these data with the HCQO results for other OECD countries, and comments on the comparability of the data provided to the OECD specification (OECD 2021).

The OECD published all patient experience indicators in OECD.Stat and a selection of patient experience indicators in Health at a glance 2021. Australia calculated and submitted 4 of the patient experience indicators requested:

  • Consultation skipped to costs
  • Medical tests, treatment or follow-up skipped due to costs
  • Prescribed medicines skipped due to costs
  • Doctor spending enough time with patients during the consultation.

The indicator definitions can be viewed here: Doc DownloadDoc DownloadPatient experiences indicator definitions

Overall data comparability and methods

The most recent data supplied by Australia for the patient experience indicators were for 2019–20. However, at the time of preparation of this report, the latest data for the patient experiences indicators have not yet been reported in the OECD.Stat database (for Australia or for any other country that provided the data). The data are expected to be recorded as 2019 data in the OECD.Stat database, and so are described in that way here.  Because the latest data are not available for other countries, data for 2016 published on OECD.Stat were used for calculation of OECD averages in this section. These data were extracted from the OECD.Stat database in November 2021, and may not reflect subsequent updates made to the database.

Patient experience indicators reported by the OECD were for adults aged 16 and over, and were age-sex standardised to the 2010 OECD population. The indicators are reported on the same basis in this report.

The 2019 ABS Patient Experience Survey collected information from over 29,000 people. For the ‘consultation skipped’ indicators, the ABS survey asked people a number of questions about their experiences with GPs, medical specialists, dental professionals or hospitals, whereas the OECD HCQO requested information in relation to experiences with ‘a health professional’ (for example, a doctor, nurse or allied health professional). Therefore, the wording used by the ABS in the Patient Experience Survey differs from the OECD specifications.

Consultations skipped due to costs

This indicator was supplied using multiple questions from the ABS Patient Experience Survey that asked people whether there had been any time they needed to go to a GP, medical specialist, dental professional or hospital but did not go, or delayed going, due to the cost.

In Australia, 15% of people aged 16 and over skipped a consultation due to costs in 2019. This percentage was higher for females (18%) than males (12%). This rate has fluctuated over time in the past decade, ranging from 8.9% in 2016 to 19% in 2012.

There are no data for 2018 or 2019 published for other OECD countries on OECD.Stat. The most recent dataset available for comparison is for 2016, where Australia (8.9%) had a similar proportion of people who skipped a consultation due to costs to the OECD average (8.6%).

Interactive PE1 below presents Australia’s 10-year trend for this indicator where data are available.

The figure presents Australia’s 10-year trend for ‘Consultations skipped due to costs’ indicator. The rate has fluctuated over time.

Refer to the data tables for more information.

Medical tests skipped due to costs

This indicator was supplied using multiple questions from the ABS Patient Experience Survey that asked people whether they delayed, or did not get, referred pathology or imaging tests due to the cost.

In Australia, 3.1% of people aged 16 and over delayed or skipped a pathology or imaging test due to costs in 2019. This rate has fluctuated over time in the past decade, ranging from 3.0% in 2018 to 14% in 2010. This percentage was slightly higher for females (3.5%) than males (2.5%).

There are no data from 2018 or 2019 published for other OECD countries on OECD.Stat. The most recent dataset available for comparison is for 2016, where Australia (7.7%) had a higher proportion of people who delayed or skipped a pathology or imaging test due to costs than the OECD average (6.7%).

Interactive PE2 below presents Australia’s 10-year trend for this indicator where data are available.

The figure presents Australia’s 10-year trend for ‘Medical tests skipped due to costs’ indicator. The rate has fluctuated over time.

Refer to the data tables for more information.

Prescribed medicines skipped due to costs

This indicator was supplied using the ABS Patient Experience Survey question that asked whether people delayed or did not get a prescription due to the cost.

In Australia, 6.6% of people aged 16 and over skipped prescribed medicines due to costs in 2019.  This rate has remained relatively stable since 2016. This percentage was higher for females (7.7%) than males (5.2%).

There are no data for 2018 or 2019 published for other OECD countries on OECD.Stat. The most recent dataset available for comparison is for 2016, where Australia (6.5%) had a similar proportion of people who skipped prescribed medicines due to costs to the OECD average (6.9%).

Interactive PE3 below presents Australia’s 10-year trend for this indicator where data are available.

The figure presents Australia’s 10-year trend for ‘Prescribed medicines skipped due to costs’ indicator. The rate has remained stable since 2016.

Refer to the data tables for more information.

Patient having enough time with doctor

This indicator was supplied based on responses to the following question by those people who saw a GP for their own health: ‘Think about all the GPs you have seen in the last 12 months. How often did they spend enough time with you?’ Possible responses were: ‘always’, ‘often’, ‘sometimes’ or ‘rarely’. Responses of ‘always’ and ‘often’ were considered to be equivalent to ‘yes’ (that is, the doctor(s) did spend enough time with respondents during the consultation) for the OECD HCQOs.

In Australia, 91% of patients aged 16 and over reported that for all the GPs seen in the past 12 months, the doctor had always or often spent enough time with them in 2019. This rate has remained relatively stable since 2013. The proportion was slightly higher for males (92%) than females (90%).

There are no data for 2018 or 2019 published for other OECD countries on OECD.Stat. The most recent dataset available for comparison is for 2015, where Australia (90%) had a higher proportion than the OECD average (87.5%).

The OECD recommends monitoring patient experience with any doctor, as Australia has done, but some of the other countries to which Australia is compared measure experience with a patient’s regular doctor (OECD 2021). The ABS Patient Experience Survey does not distinguish between the concepts of ‘regular doctor’ and ‘any doctor’.

Interactive PE4 below presents Australia’s 10-year trend for this indicator where data are available.

PE4 presents Australia’s 10-year trend for ‘Patient having enough time with doctor’ indicator. The rate has remained stable since 2013.