This brief uses public Australian sources only. It shows where GP access pressure remains visible, how telehealth is used, and why online care is an access layer rather than a replacement for in-person medicine.
Asset type
Linkable authority page for journalists, researchers, search engines, and answer engines.
Source discipline
Every claim section cites public sources and separates facts from service boundaries.
Clinical boundary
General information only. A doctor decides what is clinically appropriate for an individual case.
Claim: More than one in four Australians reported delaying or not seeing a GP when needed in 2024-25.
The ABS Patient Experiences release reported that 26.6% of people delayed or did not see a GP when needed in 2024-25.
The same release reported that people in outer regional or remote areas were more likely to delay or not use GPs when needed than people in major cities.
Claim: A significant share of Australians reported GP waiting times longer than they felt acceptable.
The ABS reported that 26.0% of people waited longer than they felt acceptable for a GP appointment in 2024-25.
For urgent GP care, the ABS reported that 47.0% of people who saw a GP for urgent medical care waited 24 hours or more.
Claim: Telehealth remains a common way Australians access health services, even below its pandemic peak.
The ABS reported that 22.5% of people had at least one telehealth consultation for their own health in the last 12 months in 2024-25.
The ABS also reported that 18.5% of people had a telehealth consultation with a GP in that period.
Claim: The Productivity Commission reported one telehealth GP-type service per person nationally in 2024-25.
The Report on Government Services 2026 reported 6.4 GP-type services per person nationally in 2024-25.
The same report reported 1.0 telehealth GP-type service per person nationally in 2024-25.
Claim: Telehealth improves access only when it is used for problems that can be safely assessed remotely.
The Australian Government notes that expanded telehealth services became an ongoing part of Medicare from 1 January 2022.
Medical Board guidance still expects doctors to decide whether telehealth is clinically appropriate and to arrange in-person care where necessary.
Cite this page
InstantMed, "GP wait-time and telehealth access brief", last reviewed 6 June 2026.