Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2022) Indigenous health checks and follow-ups, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 02 April 2023.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2022). Indigenous health checks and follow-ups. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/indigenous-health-checks-follow-ups
Indigenous health checks and follow-ups. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 19 August 2022, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/indigenous-health-checks-follow-ups
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Indigenous health checks and follow-ups [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2022 [cited 2023 Apr. 2]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/indigenous-health-checks-follow-ups
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2022, Indigenous health checks and follow-ups, viewed 2 April 2023, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/indigenous-health-checks-follow-ups
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This section looks at the length of time between consecutive health checks for different groups of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Most of the analysis refers to people who had at least one Indigenous‑specific health check in 2020–21, and describes the length of time between their most recent health check in that period and their previous most recent health check, if any, back to November 1999 (when Indigenous‑specific health checks were first introduced for people aged 55 and over). The trend over time, looking at Indigenous health check patients over 10 years, is shown at the end.
Proportions in this section use the group of patients (or sub-group) who had at least one Indigenous‑specific health check in the reference year (e.g. 2020–21) as the denominator, and not the total estimated Indigenous population. Therefore, the proportions are specific to the health check patients assessed in the reference year, and do not reflect the time between health checks for the entire Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
People without a previous health check on record (in other words, those with only one recorded MBS‑billed Indigenous‑specific health check in the relevant period) are included in the reporting of proportions, but do not factor into the reporting of mean and median months between consecutive health checks.
For additional information about the analysis, see Data and notes.
Overall, around 237,000 people had at least one Indigenous‑specific health check in 2020–21 (Figure 9). Of these:
On average, people with at least one Indigenous‑specific health check in 2020–21 and at least one earlier health check on record had their 2 most recent health checks 23.4 months apart. The median time between health checks was 16.0 months, for comparison (Figure 9).
Females had slightly less time between their most recent health checks, on average, than males (22.9 months compared with 24.1 months, respectively). Additionally, more males (18%) had no prior history of health checks than females (15%) (Figure 9).
An interactive bar graph showing the number of months or years between consecutive health checks for patients from 2020-21, by sex. An alternate graph shows the mean and median time between consecutive health checks. Females had slightly shorter time spans between health checks, on average, compared with males – 22.9 months for females, and 24.1 months for males. Refer to tables 'HC11' and 'HC16' in data tables.
Looking at broad age groups, young children (0–4 years) were the most distinct group, since nearly half of those counted (44%) had only 1 Indigenous‑specific health check on record, compared with 10–16% in other age groups (Figure 10). This is of course partly because some infants will be too young to have received a second health check.
Among those aged 5 and over:
An interactive bar graph showing the number of months or years between consecutive health checks for patients from 2020-21, by age group. An alternate graph shows the mean and median time between consecutive health checks. The majority of 2020-21's patients had multiple health checks on record, and this was more common in older age groups. People aged 55 and over had the shortest time spans between health checks, with 28% waiting less than 12 months between consecutive health checks. Refer to tables 'HC12' and 'HC16' in data tables.
Looking at the states and territories:
Among remoteness areas:
An interactive bar graph showing the number of months or years between consecutive health checks for patients from 2020-21, by state and territory, and separately by Remoteness Areas. An alternate graph shows the mean and median time between consecutive health checks. Patients in Queensland and Tasmania had the shortest time span between consecutive health checks on average, at 21.8 months – compared with 25.9 months in Victoria. Average time spans between health checks increased with increasing remoteness. Refer to tables 'HC13', 'HC14' and 'HC16' in data tables.
The largest change over the decade spanning 2011–12 to 2020–21 was in how many patients each year had at least one earlier health check on record. After 9 years, just over 83% of patients in 2020–21 (197,000 out of 237,000 people) had received at least one earlier health check, up from 50% of patients (47,600 out of 94,800 people) in 2011–12 (Figure 12).
Between 2014–15 and 2019–20, the mean number of months between consecutive health checks ranged from 22.2 to 22.8 months. Among 2020–21’s patients, there was a slight increase in the average time between health checks (23.4 months, compared with 22.8 among 2019–20’s patients). This was mainly due to there being fewer people whose 2 most recent health checks were less than 15 months apart in 2020–21, compared with 2019–20, likely resulting from concerns or restrictions related to COVID‑19 (Figure 12).
An interactive bar graph showing the number of months or years between consecutive health checks for patients from 2011-12 to 2020-21. An alternate graph shows the mean and median time between consecutive health checks. The proportion of patients who had at least one previous health check on record has increased from 50% in 2011-12 to 83% in 2020-21. The average time between health checks increased slightly in 2020-21. Refer to tables 'HC15' and 'HC17' in data tables.
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