People in the ACT were the Australians most likely to have seen a medical specialist in the past 12 months, but more than one-third who did felt they waited too long for an appointment, ABS data reveals.
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Almost two in five territorians – 39.1 per cent of the population – saw a specialist, according to the ABS 2013-14 Patient Experience Survey.
But 30.2 per cent of those who did said they waited longer than they felt acceptable – the second highest proportion of all jurisdictions and up on the national figure of 25 per cent.
Australian Medical Association ACT president Dr Liz Gallagher said the wait to see a specialist depended on the level of urgency, but it was hard to define what a patient considered unacceptable.
"It surprised me a little how many people in the ACT see a medical specialist," she said.
"[Wait times are] partly determined by what the GPs think – if a GP rang me and said someone needed to be seen urgently, you've got to prioritise."
Dr Gallagher said Canberra was undersupplied for specialists in some fields, but often patient choice pushed out waiting times.
"For example, female gynaecologists usually have a longer wait than male ones because of patient choice," she said.
With one in six (17 per cent) territorians visiting a hospital emergency department, the survey revealed the ACT's rate was higher than the rest of the country at 14.3 per cent.
But more than one-fifth (20.1 per cent) of territorians who visited an ED felt the care could have been provided by a GP.
Dr Gallagher said further research was needed to find out why Canberrans continued to visit the ED for minor health conditions.
"It comes down to education because it's not as if the ACT is light on for after-hours or bulk-billing [general] practices," she said.
"I can't see what the attraction of the emergency department is."
But she said the statistic might be a result of people looking back in retrospect.
"A lot of people don't know it's a GP problem until after they've been seen," she said.
"If you have chest pain you don't know if it's a pulled muscle or a heart attack."
Dr Gallagher said it was "fantastic" the ACT had the highest proportion of people with a preferred GP at 81.3 per cent as it meant better continuity of care.
The ACT also had the highest proportion of people who saw three or more health professionals for the same condition (21.6 per cent) compared with 16.1 per cent across Australia.
But 17.7 per cent of the ACT residents who did said they experienced issues caused by a lack of communication between the health professionals.
Dr Gallagher said ACT residents' high level of education made them more likely to want a second opinion, but the statistics would depend on the definition of a medical profession.
"It could also be that they're seeing a dietician or diabetes educator and that's good," she said.
"There's a more holistic approach to particular health problems with allied health professionals."
Overall the survey suggests territorians appeared to take better care of their health than the rest of the country.
A higher proportion of people in the ACT saw a dental professional (53.6 per cent compared with 49.7 per cent).
Dr Gallagher said access to health services in the ACT was "fantastic" compared with the rest of Australia, making it difficult to compare the ACT with other jurisdictions.
"The population of Canberra on the whole is very well-educated and self-aware, so they tend to be very aware of their health and what's available to them – which is good," she said.
"It's all in a 20-minute drive for all of us all the time."
