A snapshot of Australians' experience with health services over the past year reveals the cost of living crisis continues to influence how we access health care.

According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), more than one in 10 Australians living in areas of most socio-economic disadvantage delayed or went without prescription medication when needed due to the cost.

The proportion of people who nominated costs as their main reason for delaying or not seeing a GP when they needed to increased to 8.8 per cent in 2023-24.

That was an increase from 7 per cent in 2022-23, which was an increase on the previous year as well.

The proportion of people who also listed cost as the main reason for not seeing an after-hours GP when needed also increased by 2 per cent to 6.4 per cent in 2023-24, up from 4.4 per cent previously.

About one in four people living in areas of most socio-economic disadvantage were more likely to delay or not see a dentist compared with 11 per cent of those living in areas of least disadvantage.

Younger Australians aged 25-34 were also more likely to delay or put off accessing health services altogether compared with those aged 85 years and over.

However, the proportion of people who could always see their preferred GP when needed increased to 66.4 per cent from 63.7 per cent, with women more likely than men to access health services.

Barrier extends to mental health

The data reveals that the cost of living has also created barriers to how Australians access mental health services.

The ABS data shows 17 per cent of Australians saw at least one health professional for their own mental health, similar to the previous figure of 16.5 per cent.

Of these, 38.1 per cent delayed or did not see a health professional for their own mental health on at least one occasion when needed, with 20.4 per cent citing cost as their main reason.

It is worth noting the proportion of people delaying mental health appointments due to cost varies depending on the type of health professional, with 28.7 per cent delaying or not seeing a psychiatrist, and 25.6 per cent for psychologists.

Mr Long says there was "quite a big difference" in who was accessing mental health services.

Women were more likely to see a health professional than their male counterparts (21.1 per cent compared to 12.8 per cent).

In terms of age, young people are also more likely to see a health professional for their own mental health than older people.

The ABS data shows 21.1 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds saw a mental health professional compared with 9.2 per cent of those aged 65 years and over.

The data also revealed that 30 per cent of those 25-34-year-olds were more likely to delay seeking mental health care due to cost compared to 7.8 per cent of those aged 65 and over.

Wait times vary

The data shows 28.0 per cent of people reported waiting longer than they felt acceptable for a GP appointment, which is a decrease from 29.6 per cent the previous year.

However, those living in outer-regional, remote or very remote areas were 10 per cent more likely to report waiting longer than those living in major cities (36.3 per cent and 26.0 per cent respectively).

When it came to specialist appointments, 28.6 per cent of people reported waiting longer than they felt was acceptable, up slightly from 27.8 per cent the year before.

Women were likely to report waiting longer than men (30.8 per cent to 25.7 per cent), as well as people living in areas of most socio-economic advantage than people living in areas of least advantage (30.6 per cent to 25.7 per cent).

Telehealth remains popular choice

Despite the impact of the cost of living, Mr Long said the latest data also contained "quite a few positives".

"We found that telehealth remains reasonably popular among Australians," Mr Long said.

"So just under a quarter of people (23.6 per cent) reported that they had at least one telehealth consultation for their own health in the last 12 months.

"However, that was down from 28 per cent in the previous survey cycle, which itself was also down from 31 per cent the year before that.

"So there's a bit of a bit of a decrease coming off the end of the pandemic, but telehealth is still being used as an option by quite a lot of people."

Mr Long also noted the latest data showed experiences with health practitioners were "on the whole, generally positive".

"So for example, about three-quarters of people (72.2 per cent) reported hospital doctors, hospital nurses and medical specialists always listen carefully," he said.