Trends across several measures of GP accessibility and affordability have reversed for the first time since pre-covid years.
This year’s Productivity Commission Report on Government Services reveals that fewer patients are delaying GP care due to cost, more people are being bulk billed and government investment in general practice is on the rise.
In other words – it’s all coming up roses in GP world.
One of the key turnarounds was in the measure of perceived accessibility.
Ever since the pandemic, the proportion of people who say they have put off or cancelled a GP visit due to cost has been creeping upward.
Just 3.4% of people delayed their visits in the 2018-19 financial year; this proportion swelled year-on-year to a high of 8.8% in 2023-24.
For the 2025-26 financial year, though, it has decreased to 7.7%.
While still relatively high, this is the first time that the proportion of people delaying GP care has shrunk since the onset of the pandemic.
GPs were some of the most accessible clinicians for mental health care, too.
Patients were almost two and a half times as likely to report delaying mental health appointments with psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals due to cost for than they were to delay seeking mental health care from a GP.
Delayals were not the only measure to record a turnaround, either.
Nationally in 2024-25, 49.1% of patients were fully bulk billed by their GP, reversing a downward trend since a peak of 67.6% in 2020-21.
Last financial year also marked the largest government expenditure on general practice on record, totalling $13.4 billion.
This figure covers Medicare, PHN administration, DVA GP items and incentive payments.
The only other time in the past decade where GP expenditure has cracked $13 billion was at the height of the pandemic vaccination drive in 2021-22.
Expenditure on GPs per capita has also increased, going from $469 in 2023-24 to $489 in 2024-25.
“These results really do give me optimism,” RACGP president Dr Michael Wright told The Medical Republic.
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“It’s showing there’s greater government spending on GP services … we’re seeing less patients who are avoiding seeing a GP, access levels remain incredibly high and there’s [even signs that] … potentially preventable hospital ED attendances are continuing to drop.
“It shows GPs are doing more and more of this important work, and it’s really having a benefit for the health system.”
Patients are noticing, too.
According to the Productivity Commission, upwards of 90% of people who saw a GP in 2024-25 reported that their doctor always or often listened carefully and showed respect.
Another 89% said their GP spent enough time with them.
In terms of workforce, the number of GPs has remained stable and the gender mix has become more equal over time.
It is, however, an ageing workforce; one in four working GPs were aged 60 years or over, compared to 1.5% who were less than 30 years of age.
The younger GPs were also some of the least likely to continue practice.
The proportion of female GPs aged under 30 years who exited the workforce has remained steady at 1.6% while the proportion of male GPs aged under 30 years who exited the workforce was 0.9%, lending additional credence to the findings of the ‘I love my job but it’s time to go’ study by GP-researchers Professor Louise Stone and Professor Karen Price.
Timeliness of care was one of the few areas where GP statistics did not markedly improve.
Between the 2023-24 financial year and the 2024-25 financial year, there was very little change in the wait times experienced by people who sought and received urgent GP care.
There was, however, a slight decrease in the proportion of people who felt their wait time was unacceptable.
