1.5 Description of survey sample

1.5 Description of survey sample

Responses relating to patient demography, person completing the survey and frequency of usage for 2021 are outlined below. Demographic data is presented at a National level and is unweighted.

Figure 1. Demographic 2021

Base Australia n=5,216; New Zealand n=1,810; Papua New Guinea n=1,094; excludes ‘missing’ and ‘other’ responses.

Gender and Age Across all three countries, more females participated in the survey than males. In both Australia (84%) and New Zealand (76%), the majority of respondents were aged over 50. Respondents aged between 71 to 80 years accounted for the highest proportion of total respondents in both Australia (28%) and New Zealand (24%).

The age composition varied slightly between services; Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and South Australia having the oldest profiles with at least 85% of their respondents being made up of service users aged 51 years and above. In comparison, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (both 23%) had a larger proportion of younger users aged 50 years or younger of their services.

The age profile of respondents from Papua New Guinea tended to be younger than Australia and New Zealand, the majority under 50 years of age (68%) and a third (32%) making up those patients aged 50 years and over.

Person completing the survey There were differences observed between Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in terms of the person completing the survey. In Australia, nearly a quarter of surveys (23%) were completed by a relative or carer of the patient, compared to 15% in New Zealand. In Papua New Guinea, nearly three quarters (71%) were carers or relatives of the patient compared to 29% who were the patient that was transported. The proportion of carers/patients in Australia and New Zealand has remained consistent for the previous four years of the study.

The breakdown of who completed the survey was consistent between services within both Australia and New Zealand between 2020 and 2021, whereas in Papua New Guinea there was a larger proportion of relatives/carers who completed the survey this year.

Frequency of usage in the last 12 months In Australia, half of respondents reported using the ambulance service once in the last 12 months (50%), with a further 43% using it between two and five times. Seven percent of respondents (7%) indicated they had used the ambulance service ‘more than five times’ in the last year.

The findings varied between state services, those respondents in Queensland (60%), Victoria (55%) and South Australia (54%) were more likely to say they had used the service more than once in the last 12 months.

In Papua New Guinea, nearly two thirds (63%) of respondents reported using the ambulance service once in the past 12 months, up 20 percentage points from 2020. A third of respondents (33%) used the service between two and five times in the preceding year.

This question was not asked in New Zealand.