After-hours GP attendances
After-hours GP Medicare-subsidised attendances were higher in metropolitan areas and varied across PHNs
After-hours GP attendances are GP and non-specialist medical practitioner attendances provided on a public holiday, a Sunday, and during specified periods between Monday and Saturday depending on the service, see Technical information for specific times. The availability of Medicare-subsidised after-hours GP services can vary based on where a person lives, and this may impact the proportion of people who have this attendance type within a Primary Health Network (PHN).
In 2022–23, after-hours GP attendance use was higher in metropolitan PHN areas (20%) than regional areas (9.3%). Across PHNs, after-hours GP visits ranged from 5.1% to 29% (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Proportion of people who had a Medicare-subsidised after-hours GP attendance, by PHN area, 2022–23
Chart: AIHW. Sources: AIHW analysis of Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS claims data; ABS ERP.
Box 3: After-hours GP attendances
The Australian Government provides a range of Medicare-subsidised after-hours services to support Australians with access to health care in various settings including consulting rooms, consumers’ homes or residential aged care facilities. After-hours care is categorised as urgent and non-urgent, depending on when and where care is provided.
In this report, urgent and non-urgent after-hours care are defined as per the Medicare Benefits Schedule. For more details, see Technical information.
After-hours GP attendances in Major cities were highest in lower socioeconomic areas
Of those within major cities, a higher proportion of people who live in lower socioeconomic SA3 areas had an after-hours GP attendance, than in medium and higher socioeconomic areas. In 2022–23, 23% of people in lower socioeconomic SA3 areas had an after-hours GP attendance compared with 19% in medium and 14% in higher socioeconomic SA3 areas.
Just over 1 in 20 after-hours GP attendances were urgent
GP after-hours attendances billed as ‘urgent’ accounted for 6% of all GP after-hours attendances in 2022–23, a decrease from 10% in 2018-19. Urgent after-hours GP attendances accounted for 5% of GP after-hours visits by people in regional areas and 9% in metropolitan areas.