The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released new figures that just under half (49 per cent) of all Australians aged 15 and over have visited the dentist in the last 12 months.

 

Around 90 per cent of those who did visited a private dental clinic, while the remaining 10 per cent visited a public dental clinic.

 

ABS Director of Health Statistics, Louise Gates, said the 2011-12 Patient Experience survey collected information on access and barriers to a range of health care services including general practitioners, dental professionals and medical specialists.

 

"The survey showed that just over one in five people who needed to see a dental professional had delayed seeing or had not seen one in the previous 12 months because of the cost," Ms Gates said.



"People aged 25 to 34 were the most likely to delay seeing or not see a dental professional because of cost with 31 per cent, compared with five per cent for those aged 75 years and over.”

 

The figures show that 14.6 million, or 81 per cent, of the same age group visited a GP at leaste once in the previous 12 months. Around 87 per cent of those who saw a GP felt that GPs always or often spent enough time with them during their visits.

 

"In 2011-12, approximately 2.3 million people aged 15 years and over, or 13 per cent, had been admitted to hospital in the previous 12 months and 2.5 million, or 14 per cent, had visited an emergency department.



"At the time of their most recent visit to an emergency department for their own health, 23 per cent of people thought that the care they needed could have been provided by a GP," Ms Gates said. 


Further information can be found in Patient Experiences in Australia: Summary of Findings, 2011-12 (cat. no. 4839.0) available for free download from the ABS website (www.abs.gov.au).