In 2020–21, 27% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (237,000 out of 871,000 people) had an Indigenous‑specific health check. Around 5% of health checks (12,000 of 244,000 services) were conducted at least partly via phone or video-conference in 2020–21 (Figure 2).
In 2020–21, the rates of Indigenous‑specific health checks were:
- highest among those aged 65 and over, for both males and females – 41% of Indigenous females (10,200 females) and 38% of Indigenous males (7,800 males) in this age group received a health check
- lowest among those aged 5–14 for females (23% or 20,900 females) and among those aged 15–24 and 25–34 for males (18% or 15,400 males aged 15–24 and 12,600 aged 25–34) (Figure 2).
The rate of Indigenous‑specific health checks was higher for females than for males – 29% compared with 25%, respectively (128,000 females and 109,000 males). Across age groups, the difference between males and females in the rate of checks was largest for those aged 25–34 (28% of Indigenous females, compared with 18% of Indigenous males). Among total health check recipients of each sex, females engaged with telehealth services slightly more so than males (5.2% of female patients compared with 4.7% of male patients – or around 6,700 females and 5,200 males) (Figure 2).
Rates of Indigenous‑specific health checks delivered via telehealth differed only marginally between age groups in 2020–21. Just under 2% of the Indigenous population aged 65 and over received a health check via telehealth (900 patients), compared with 1% of the population aged 15–24 (1,700 patients) (Figure 2).