National Health Performance Authority, Healthy Communities: Satisfaction with waiting times for GPs, 2011–12

Participants in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Patient Experience Survey 2011–12 who felt they waited longer than acceptable to get an appointment with a GP.

The numerator was calculated as the sum of calibrated sample weights for adults who responded that they waited longer than acceptable to get an appointment with a GP in last 12 months and who were enumerated within the particular Medicare local catchment.

Population is limited to persons aged 15 years and over.

The denominator was calculated as the sum of calibrated sample weights for persons aged 15 years and over who saw a GP for their own health in the last 12 months (excluding proxy interviews) who were enumerated within the Medicare Local catchment.

Person level survey weights were calibrated to independent estimates of the population of interest, referred to as 'benchmarks'. Weights calibrated against population benchmarks ensure that the survey estimates conform to independently estimated distributions of the population, rather than to the distribution within the sample itself. These benchmarks account for the distribution of people across state and territory, age group, and sex categories. These benchmarks have not been calibrated for Medicare Local geography.

Presented as a percentage.

95% confidence intervals and relative standard errors calculated for rates.

National Health Performance Authority suppression protocols

• Additional suppression rules were developed and applied by the National Health Performance Authority to ensure robust reporting of these data at small areas.
• These suppression rules are based on limits for Relative Standard Error¹ and Confidence Interval width of 30%, with additional cross-validation for estimates close to these limits, that is plus or minus 3% of the limits. If an estimate was marginal² with respect to Relative Standard Error, the Confidence Interval width was used as the deciding factor. If an estimate was marginal² with respect to Confidence Interval width, then Relative Standard Error is used as the deciding factor. Data were suppressed based on the following rules:

Relative Standard Error of 33% or greater, or Confidence Interval (95%) width of 33% or greater, or

Relative Standard Error between 27% and 33%, with significantly³ wider Confidence Interval width than the average for that indicator, or

Confidence Interval width between 27% and 33%, with significantly³ wider Relative Standard Error than the average for that indicator.

¹ For a dichotomous proportion, Relative Standard Error can be defined as the ratio of the standard error and the minimum of the estimate and its complement (100%-estimate).

² In this context, marginal is defined as within 10% of the 30% limit, or +/- 3%.

³ In this context, statistical significance is defined as at least two standard deviations above average.