There been a resurgence in visits to doctors after people initially delayed their care because of COVID-19 restrictions and fears about infection risk, new figures show.
But while more people overall are seeking medical care, there are still some vulnerable groups such as those in financial stress or mental distress who are avoiding needed healthcare, according to survey results released by the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, University of Melbourne.
The findings come from the third wave of a national survey of 1200 adults, which showed that the proportion reporting that they had consulted a health professional when they needed to rose from 39% in June to 44% in August.
The increase was driven mostly by increased healthcare visits for women and especially those over 65, in whom 67% said they had seen a healthcare professional in the last month.
“The increased use of health professionals may reflect that people are catching up on services that they had previously delayed or avoided in April and May. But it is unclear what will happen once the backlog is cleared,” the report authors said.
“This may also reflect people being more willing to look after their health as the pandemic continues longer than many expected.”
They noted that healthcare use by men remained lower and little changed, particularly for younger men in who only a third reported seeing a health professional when they needed to in the past month.
There were also high rates of avoiding healthcare for people who were financially stressed, who were much more likely to forgo needed health care (32.8%) than those making ends meet (14.8%) and those who are financially comfortable (6.3%) in August.
Similarly, people with high mental distress were six times more likely to avoid needed health care than those without mental distress.
Use of telehealth remained unchanged, with 11% of respondents said they used it to consult a healthcare professional in August, compared to around a third of respondents who said they had a face-to-face consultation.