National use of follow-ups
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Notes
- This section reflects the number and proportion of health check patients who received a follow-up service in the 12 months following their health check, by the year that their health check was delivered (including both, financial years and calendar years, which overlap by 6 months).
- Some people who have health checks will not need follow-up services. If it were possible, excluding those individuals from the denominator could potentially increase the percentages markedly and reveal different variation.
- Some records from a small number of service providers have been excluded due to data quality concerns.
Latest data
Among health check patients in 2022:
- 45% had a follow-up service in the 12 months following their health check (104,000 people).
- The proportion of people who had a follow-up service within 12 months generally increased with age.
- The age group with the highest follow-up percentage was ages 65–74, at 56% (8,100 patients with a follow-up).
- People aged 5–14 had the lowest proportion going on to have a follow-up service within 12 months, at 40% (16,800 patients with a follow-up).
- A higher proportion of females had a follow-up service within 12 months than males in all age groups, 15–24 and older.
Trends over time
Among health check patients from 2013 to 2022:
- There was a gradual increase in the proportion of people going on to receive a follow-up service within 12 months from 2013 until 2018–19.
- 26% of 2013’s health check patients had a follow-up service (34,600 patients).
- 47% of 2018–19’s health check patients had a follow-up service (113,000 patients).
- Since 2019, the follow-up percentage has dropped only slightly, from 47% for 2019 down to 45% for 2022.
- Differences by age and sex have been largely consistent throughout this time.
Figure 16: Use of follow-up services among health check patients, by age group, by sex, by year of health check, 2013 to 2022
A set of 4 interactive charts. Refer to table FS03 in data tables. A long description is available below.
A set of 4 interactive charts. The first is a column graph showing slightly more female health check patients than males had a follow-up service. The second is a column graph showing the follow-up percentage increasing with age, after an initial dip. The third is a line graph showing the follow-up percentage by sex trending upwards from 2013 to around 2019 when it levelled off then dipped around 2021. The fourth is a line graph showing the follow-up percentage trends by age group. Refer to table FS03 in data tables.