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SA country area “least healthy” in Australia

Jun 20, 2013
Photo: AAP

Photo: AAP

The Country South Medicare catchment in South Australia is the least healthy area in Australia, according to a new report.

The National Health Performance Authority report found that 60 per cent of adults in this area have a long-term ailment. The area covers the Riverland, the Murray Mallee and the Limestone Coast.

People in the catchment make an average of five GP visits in a 12-month period and 76 per cent of visits are bulk billed, according to the report based on Medicare statistics and survey data from almost 27,000 Australian adults in 2011/12.

Country South SA Medicare Local Acting CEO Angela Littleford said the data in the report had been gathered before the Country South SA Medicare Local was established 10 months ago.

“This report confirms the importance and the need for a Medicare Local in this region working towards better health outcomes through a coordinated primary healthcare system, better management of conditions and improved access to services throughout the region,” Littleford said.

“We are working towards a better integrated and better coordinated primary healthcare system which meets the needs of the local community, with the aim of keeping people well and out of hospital.”

The report found that adults in southwestern and western Sydney visit their GP an average of 7.5 times a year, far more often than people in other areas, according to a new report.

That’s possibly because more than 95 per cent of GP visits in those areas are bulk billed, the highest rate in Australia.

Levels of healthiness in an area do not appear to be linked to the number of GP visits, with fewer people in western and southwestern Sydney suffering from a long-term ailment than those in many other areas, according to the report.

The healthiest area is inner west Sydney, where adults make an average of six GP visits a year, with 92 per cent bulk billed.

The area with the least bulk billing is Australian Capital Territory at 50 per cent and around four GP visits a year.

The report highlights a “strong association” between the level of bulk billing in an area and the number of GP visits.

Authority CEO Dr Diane Watson says the percentage of adults with long-term health conditions ranges from 34 per cent to 60 per cent. This means Medicare locals face different challenges in ensuring appropriate care.

There are 14 local areas where about a quarter of people have delayed or avoided seeing a dentist in the past 12 months due to cost, according to the report, which sets a benchmark for Medicare locals to measure how well people in their areas access health services.

There are also 32 areas where at least 10 per cent of people have delayed seeing a doctor or filling a prescription, or both.

The report charts experiences before Medicare locals were established. “It is a starting point,” says Watson.

The authority has also launched the MyHealthyCommunities website that enables people to compare local information across a range of measures, including service access, immunisation rates and cost.

“It informs the public makes it easier for health leaders to see where improvements can be most effectively targeted,” Watson says.

 

AUSTRALIA’S MOST AND LEAST HEALTHY AREAS

LOWEST RATE OF LONG-TERM HEALTH CONDITIONS:

* Inner West Sydney

* Southeastern Melbourne

* Eastern Sydney

* Southeastern Sydney

* Gold Coast

HIGHEST RATE OF LONG-TERM HEALTH CONDITIONS:

* Country South SA

* Loddon-Mallee-Murray (Vic/NSW)

* Central Coast NSW

* Hunter (NSW)

* Grampians (Vic)

 

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