Health and wellbeing
Poorer health experiences among people with disability can be due to inadequate access to health care or the provision of inadequate care. Health care issues can include access to health services; the appropriateness of equipment, training or facilities; the operation of health systems and processes; and health care worker attitudes (Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031).
Ensuring that health service providers have the capabilities to meet the needs of people with disability is essential to attaining the highest possible health and wellbeing outcomes for people with disability.
Unmet hospitalisation needs
A key system outcome of the Strategy is that hospitals provide high-quality and suitable services to people with disability. Currently, a transitional measure on unmet need for hospital admission is being reported.
System measure: Proportion of people with disability who reported unmet need for hospital admission in the last 12 months
Desired outcome: Decrease in the proportion
Data source: ABS SDAC
This measure will be replaced in the future when available data are improved. During the life of the Strategy, it will be replaced by ‘Number of potentially avoidable deaths in hospital for people with disability compared to people without disability’.
For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Unmet hospitalisation needs.
Self-reported health
Self-assessed health status is a commonly used measure of overall health and reflects a person’s perception of their own health at a given point. It also provides a broad picture of a population’s overall health. It has some limitations, including being influenced by factors such as a person’s access to health services (for example, to diagnosis and treatment) and level of education (AIHW 2022).
The desired population outcome for this measure is that the gap between the proportion of adults with disability and those without disability who report they are in good health is reduced.
Population measure: Proportion of people with disability who reported excellent, very good or good health compared with people without disability
Desired outcome: Reduction in the difference
Data source: ABS National Health Survey (NHS)
For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Self-reported health.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2022) ‘Health status’, People with disability in Australia, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 30 August 2023.
Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 (2021), Department of Social Services, Australian Government, accessed 30 August 2023.
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