Introduction
In December 2024, the AIHW released Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and primary health care: patterns of service use, preferences, and access to services featuring analysis of data from the 2018–19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) (AIHW 2024).
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)
The NATSIHS is a set of periodic surveys run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which collect data on a range of health-related topics and social determinants from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages in non‑remote and remote areas of Australia, including discrete Indigenous communities.
The NATSIHS is a sample survey. A sample survey collects data from a representative subset of a larger population to make inferences about the entire group, rather than surveying everyone. As only a sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were surveyed in the NATSIHS, weights are used to convert the sample-based data into estimates for the total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. Data presented in this report are estimates (weighted frequencies and weighted percentages) unless otherwise noted.
The NATSIHS has the advantage of collecting detailed information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on a range of topics – including social and cultural determinants, the need for primary health care, preferences, usage, and unmet needs – with the data available at unit record level and results able to be adjusted to the national level.
The downsides of the NATSIHS primarily relate to the frequency of data collection and comparability with previous versions. Data are collected every 6 to 7 years; hence, while it can provide information on overall time trends for selected items that are collected consistently, it is unable to provide yearly data. There is also a lag between when the data are collected and when these are released.
As each NATSIHS is a standalone cross-sectional survey rather than part of a longitudinal dataset, caution should be exercised when interpreting changes across survey cycles. Additionally, while core elements are retained across cycles to support comparability, methodological refinements have been introduced over time to enhance data quality, relevance, and coverage.
For more information on the NATSIHS, including on coverage and the variables used in the analyses in this report, see Technical notes.
That report and interactive dashboard showed that:
- Service availability for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was good at a national level but it is critical to look at lower-level geographies and the availability of specific service types, such as Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) (which in this report fall into the category of Aboriginal Medical Service or Community Clinic (AMS/CC)) or mainstream General Practitioners (GPs).
- Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a usual source of primary health care but they were not always able to use the type they preferred. The availability of services within their local area plays a key role in this.
- Satisfaction with primary health care is high but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to have unmet needs for primary health care services (especially dental care).
- Preferences, use and unmet need for primary health care services by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people vary by remoteness. For example:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote areas were generally more likely to prefer and use an AMS/CC than those in non-remote areas.
- Unmet need for GPs and dentists was generally higher in non-remote areas. However, while unmet need for these services was generally lower in remote areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in these areas were less likely to have seen a GP or dentist recently.
- ACCHOs and other Indigenous Australians Health Programme (IAHP)-funded services play an important role in providing culturally safe primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and improving service accessibility overall. This was highlighted in the findings from the interactive dashboard that accompanied the previous release of this report (AIHW 2024). While this dashboard was not updated for this report, it and the associated spatial analyses remain relevant as the service delivery sites for IAHP-funded ACCHOs and non-ACCHOs behind it (sourced from the 2022–23 Online Services Report data collection) correspond closely in time to the 2022–23 NATSIHS data presented in this report.
The results presented in this report support those findings and further build on them to provide:
- updated analyses of the patterns of service use, preferences, and access to primary health care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people using more recent data from the 2022–23 NATSIHS
- a comparative view across three time points using data from the 2012–13, 2018–19 and 2022–23 NATSIHS.
To allow users to explore these data in greater detail, a series of interactive visualisations are also included.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2024) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and primary health care: patterns of service use, preferences, and access to services, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 25 July 2025.