Study Finds That Australians Hold Positive Views of Their Health System
Australians rate their health system better now than they did a decade ago, according to a new paper by PCHSS researchers Dr Louise Ellis, Professor Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Associate Professor Yvonne Zurynski, and others. In “Changes in public perceptions and experiences of the Australian health‐care system: A decade of change”, published in Health Expectations in November 2020, the researchers compared the views of the Australian public across ten years, finding that in 2018 respondents regarded the system more positively than they did in 2008.
After carrying out a population‐based online survey of 1,024 participants in 2018, the researchers contrasted the results with comparable surveys – with similar numbers of people – conducted in 2008, 2010, and 2012. While the comparison revealed significantly more positive sentiments about the health system, there were areas of growing concern. These included the need for more health workers, for lower costs for care and medicines, for more access to care, and for improved residential aged care.