Having timely access to health-care professionals when a person needs it is crucial to preventing, treating and managing health conditions. A new report from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found in 2016, 1 in 4 patients did not see a GP, and 1 in 8 patients did not see a specialist, even when they felt they needed to. Nearly half (45%) of patients who did not see a specialist when needed said it was because of cost. The report looks at the associations between selected patient characteristics and self-reported experiences of barriers to accessing GPs and specialists.
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