Wollongong and Shellharbour residents are more likely than people across NSW and Australia to have a long term health condition, and more than one in 10 people in the region have a mental health condition.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These are some of the findings reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the first release of the 2021 Census, which collected information on diagnosed long-term health conditions for the first time.
Compared to all NSW residents where 35.1 per cent of people had at least one long-term health condition, the Census results show 37.8 per cent of people in Wollongong and 40.3 per cent in Shellharbour had one or more health problem.
The incidence of mental health conditions including depression or anxiety in NSW was 8 per cent, while in Wollongong it was 10.1 per cent and in Shellharbour it was 10.7 per ent.
The figures also show arthritis affects more than 10 per cent of the Wollongong population (compared to 8.4 per cent in NSW), and 8.6 per cent of people have asthma (compared to 7.8 per cent in NSW).
One in 20 Wollongong residents have diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes), and one in 25 have heart disease.
In Shellharbour arthritis affects more than 11.2 per cent of people and 9.2 per cent have asthma, while 5.6 per cent have diabetes and 4.4 per cent have heart disease.
There are also 9171 people in the two LGAs with cancer.
According to the Australian Statistician David Gruen this data helps to paint a more detailed picture of Australians' health.
"For the first time, we have data on long-term health conditions across the whole population," he said.
"This is critical data to inform planning and service delivery decisions about how treatment and care is provided for all Australians.
"Census data complements existing ABS health surveys by providing additional insights about the communities that require services to support complex health needs."
Across Australia, almost 4.8 million people reported having one of the ten long-term health conditions listed on the Census form, while nearly 1.5 million had two of these health conditions. Over 750,000 had three or more of these long-term health conditions.
A further one million indicated that they had at least one other long-term health condition that was not listed on the form.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) says these figures show that more investment is needed.
"The RACGP has been warning for quite some time that we must have a sustainable health system capable of managing an ageing population, a mental health crisis, and a rising number of people with chronic illness and other serious health problems," college vice president Dr Bruce Willett said.
"GPs and general practice teams are needed by our communities more than ever before and the pandemic has only added to the extraordinary pressures practices are facing.
"That includes helping people who delayed or avoided consults and screenings in 2020 and 2021 as well as people with mental health concerns made worse by social restrictions and the uncertainty of the pandemic."
For months GPs and patients in Wollongong have been raising their concerns about the growing waiting times for appointments, as the dwindling number of practices which take walk-in appointment or bulk bill.
This is also widely thought to be increasing the pressure on the overburdened hospital, especially the emergency department, as people have nowhere left to go for medical treatment.
Dr Willett said the college wanted to see a 10% increase to Medicare rebates for longer consultations, and a new Medicare item for longer consultations lasting more than 60 minutes, so that GPs had more time to deal with complex health problems.
"This will allow GPs to spend more time with patients and really get to the bottom of what is going on, something that is particularly helpful for people with mental health concerns," he said.
"By boosting investment in general practice care, government can relieve pressure on the entire health system and significantly improve long-term patient health outcomes."
"We have a new Government and it's time to properly recognise general practice and give us the support we need. Otherwise, the next Census and the one after that will reveal even more troubling health data."
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
