The number of people in New South Wales delaying or avoiding visits to their GP has shot up by 246 percent compared to 2020, a study by the NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS) has found.
In regional parts of the state, the number of people putting off specialist visits due to cost has increased by 202 percent, while in Greater Sydney, the figure stands at 62 percent.
Even people on middle-to-high incomes are affected, with 243 percent more of them deferring or avoiding visiting a GP for financial reasons, compared to a 301 percent increase among low-income earners.
When it comes to specialist visits, the better-off are worse off: there has been a 120 percent increase in those who delay or avoid a specialist visit, while the increase for low-income earners is 109 percent.
The hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis are people aged over 65 living in Greater Sydney, where the numbers putting off seeing a GP have rocketed by 1,546 percent compared to 2020.
Others particularly badly affected are people in regional NSW, where families recorded a 546 percent increase in numbers putting off a visit to a specialist, and the number of young people (aged 15 to 24) delaying a visit to the dentist went up by 136 percent, compared to an average across the state of 25 percent.
Among those who could pay for their care, one in four reported waiting longer than acceptable to see a specialist, and one in ten felt their GP or specialist did not spend enough time with them. Further, there has been a 35 percent increase in people forced to wait more than 24 hours to see a doctor.
The lack of affordability and delays in accessing GPs is putting pressure on other parts of the health sector: one in four people said they visited emergency departments because their GP was unavailable.
“There is a troubling increase in the proportion of people delaying or forgoing visits to GPs, medical specialists, and dentists due to cost,” the report said.
“More financially vulnerable cohorts of the population are among the most impacted, including those on low incomes, unemployed, or not in the labour force.
“However, the proportion of people on middle and high incomes delaying due to cost also increased significantly, at roughly the same rate or slightly higher than the overall population. This reflects that growing cost of living pressures are impacting access to healthcare across income brackets across the whole of society.”
The report recommends that the state government respond by targeting better access and experiences in regional areas and for specific groups, such as improving affordability and reducing out-of-pocket costs, particularly for vulnerable populations.
