Primary health care variables
The conceptual framework and literature review highlighted the multi-faceted nature of primary health care use (and non-use). Fifteen different primary health care variables were selected from the 2018–19 NATSIHS for the descriptive analysis. These range from a respondent’s preferences and the availability of services in their local area, to their usual source of care/continuity of care, recency of primary health use (GPs and dental), experiences with the health-care system, and the level of unmet need for GP and dental services in the past 12 months.
The focus on timing of service use and unmet need in these analyses is for GPs and dentists as there are population-wide best practice guidelines around seeing a GP (such as at least once a year for a health check) and seeing a dentist (at least once a year for cleaning/a check-up).
Ten of the variables are available nationally (Table 2.1), while 5 of the variables were asked only of those in non-remote areas (Table 2.2).
Concept | Variable(s) | Responses |
|---|---|---|
Availability | Perceived availability of types of health care in the local area | AMS/CC; doctor/GP other than from AMS or hospital (mainstream GP);[1] hospital; traditional healer; other |
Preferences | Preferred source of health care | AMS/CC; mainstream GP; hospital; traditional healer; other |
Usual provider type | Usual source of health care | AMS/CC; mainstream GP; hospital; traditional healer; other; none |
Continuity of care | Always goes to the same health-care provider | Yes; no; no usual provider |
Service use/non-use (GP) | Timing of most recent visit to a GP | <3 months; 3 months to <6 months; 6 months to <12 months; more than 12 months ago; don’t know; never consulted a GP |
Service use/non-use (dental) | Timing of most recent dental visit | <6 months; 6 months to <12 months; 12 months to <2 years; more than 2 years ago; don’t know; never |
Unmet need for GP | Any occasion when the respondent did not go to a GP when needed in the past 12 months | Yes; no; not applicable |
Reasons underpinning unmet need for GP | Reasons why respondent did not go to a GP when needed in the past 12 months (respondents could select more than one) |
|
Unmet need for dental services | Any occasion when the respondent did not attend a dental service when needed in the past 12 months | Yes; no; not applicable |
Reasons underpinning unmet need for dental service | Reasons why respondent did not go to a dental service when needed in the past 12 months | Same as reasons underpinning unmet need for GP (see above) |
Concept | Variable(s) | Responses |
|---|---|---|
Experiences with GP(s) | In the past 12 months, how often did your GP(s):
|
|
Rating of health care received | Overall, how good was the health care you got from GPs and health services in the last 12 months? |
|
Financial costs | Had to pay any money for seeing a:
| Yes; no; don’t know |
Unfilled prescriptions | Any times in the past 12 months when respondent had a script that did not get filled | Yes; no; don’t know |
Reasons underpinning unfilled prescriptions | Reasons why prescription was not filled (respondents could select more than one) |
|
Notes:
- Mainstream GP will be used as the term throughout this report.
- Costs for GPs and specialists were asked only of respondents in non-remote areas, while the costs for ‘other health professionals’ were asked of all respondents. For the sake of consistency, we have included only the results for those in non-remote areas.
- Costs for GPs and specialists were asked only of respondents in non-remote areas, while the costs for ‘other health professionals’ were asked of all respondents. For the sake of consistency, we have included only the results for those in non-remote areas.