One in two Australian adults have at least one of the most common chronic conditions of cardiovascular disease, mental health disorder, arthritis, back pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma or diabetes. One in four Australians have two or more chronic illnesses and these chronic conditions account for 87 percent of deaths. It is estimated that around a third of the nation’s burden of disease is due to preventable risk factors. Despite this, more than four in every five Australians rank their own health to be at least ‘good’ if not ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’.
In 2015-16, $170 billion was spent on health in Australia, having grown by about 50 percent over the past decade from $113 billion in 2006-07. Current health spending equates to about $7,100 per person with hospitals and primary health care accounting for 75 percent of total health spending. Older Australians are using a higher proportion of hospital and other health services. 75 percent of PBS medicines were dispensed to people aged over 50 and one in 11 people over the age of 65 has dementia.
Patient-reported experience
A survey of patients about their experiences in 2015-16 found that 63% of patients were able to see a GP within four hours of making an appointment and the vast majority, 96 percent, of people over the age of 45 said they received excellent, very good, or good quality care from their usual GP. However one in five people said they waited longer than acceptable to see a GP and 21 percent of people said they felt they had to wait longer than acceptable to see a medical specialist.
The healthcare workforce
In 2016, more than 800,000 people identified as working in the health care industry. The majority of employed registered health professionals were nurses and midwives, and medical practitioners including GPs and specialists. Overseas trained health professionals make up a substantial part of the health workforce accounting for 31 percent of employed medical practitioners in cities and 41 percent in rural and remote areas.
How Australia compares with other countries
The AIHW report compares Australia’s health with that of similar countries and found that Australia matches or performs better than many other comparable countries when compared with the 35 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
Australia has one of the lowest rates of smoking and ranks third best for colon cancer survival. The country sits within the best third of OECD countries when it comes to life expectancy. However, Australia ranked in the lowest third for obesity with six out of 10 adults overweight or obese. And despite improvements in the rate of alcohol consumption over the past few years it remains slightly above the OECD average.
The full Australia’s Health 2018 report is available from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.