Access to preventive health care Data dictionary

Proportion of people with disability who accessed preventive and early intervention health care services in the last 12 months without difficulty, compared with people without disability

2024

2024

People aged 18 and over, with/without disability¹ who used, or needed to use, preventive or early intervention health care services² in the last 12 months

The (weighted) number of people with/without disability who used preventive or early intervention health care services in the last 12 months and responded ‘Very Easy’ or ‘Easy’ to ‘How easy or difficult was it to access this service?’³

The (weighted) number of people with/without disability who:

• used preventive or early intervention health care services in the last 12 months AND responded ‘Very Easy’, ‘Easy’, ‘Difficult’ or ‘Very Difficult’ to ‘How easy or difficult was it to access this service?’; OR
• said that they needed to use these services but could not access them

The (weighted) number of people with/without disability who used preventive or early intervention health care services in the last 12 months, and responded ‘Very Easy’ or ‘Easy’ to ‘How easy or difficult was it to access this service?’, divided by the (weighted) number of people with/without disability who:

• used preventive or early intervention health care services in the last 12 months AND responded ‘Very Easy’, ‘Easy’, ‘Difficult’ or ‘Very Difficult’ to ‘How easy or difficult was it to access this service?’; OR
• said that they needed to use these services but could not access them.

Expressed as a percentage.

100 × (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

1. For the purposes of this measure, disability status is based on a version of the ABS Short Disability Module (which identifies those with functional impairments), regardless of self-identified disability status. All survey respondents were asked about their access to preventive or early intervention health care services in the last 12 months, to enable comparison of those with and without disability.
2. Additional instructions to respondents to explain preventive or early intervention health care services were: ‘things like skin cancer checks with your GP or dental check-ups… [These are] services are to address health concerns before they become serious. This can also include visiting a dietician if you are prediabetic, etc.’
3. This measure is based on three questions:
   1. "Thinking now about preventive or early intervention health care services, have you used any of these services in the last 12 months?" Respondents who skipped this question or responded ‘Not sure’ or ‘Prefer not to answer’ were excluded from measure calculation. Respondents who answered ‘Have never used any preventive or early intervention health services’ were not asked the follow-up questions and were excluded from measure calculation.
   2. "Thinking about getting referrals and appointments, travel to and from, or paying for that appointment. How easy or difficult was it to access this service?" Respondents who skipped this question, responded ‘Not sure’ or ‘Prefer not to answer’ were excluded from the calculation.
   3. "Did you want to use these services but could not access them?" Respondents who skipped this question or answered ‘Did not need these services’, ‘Not sure’ or ‘Prefer not to answer’ were excluded from the calculation. Respondents who answered ‘Needed services but could not access them’ are included in the measure calculation.
4. Respondents who answered ‘Have never used any preventive or early intervention health services’ to the first question were not asked the follow-up questions, hence there may be some people excluded from the measure calculation who wanted to use preventive or early intervention health care services but could not access them.
5. In 2024, 77% of people with disability and 67% of people without disability used or needed to use these services in the last 12 months.