Emergency wards in overdrive after people put off healthcare check-ups until post-jab

Almost one-third of Australians are unwilling to book another healthcare appointment until they’ve received their COVID-19 vaccination, research has revealed.

Despite the pandemic effectively being eradicated from the community, Australians’ deep-seated fear of the virus continues to have ramifications. Picture: iStock

Almost one-third of Australians are unwilling to book another healthcare appointment until they’ve received their COVID-19 vaccination, research has revealed, as doctors warn that emergency wards are beginning to see the effects of people delaying seeing their doctors. Despite the pandemic effectively being eradicated from the community, Australians’ deep-seated fear of the virus continues to have ramifications.

It comes amid a growing concern that preventable health issues aren’t being discovered early enough as people cancel doctors and specialist appointments.

The research, commissioned by pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson Medical, revealed 28 per cent of those surveyed admitted they wouldn’t schedule another healthcare appointment until after they had their jab.

After working on the frontline in emergency throughout and after the pandemic, Alfred Health program director for surgical services Wendy Brown has witnessed first-hand the impacts of delaying healthcare and said emergency wards were beginning to see the ­effects of people failing too get regular check ups.

“Six to nine months is a really long time in healthcare terms and it can be the difference between catching something at an early stage and missing the opportunity to intervene,” Professor Brown told The Australian.

“We probably have double the demand that we would normally have at this time of year.

“I think the number of emergency cases we’re seeing probably does reflect the fact that people have waited.”

This was also captured by the research, with almost a quarter of Australians saying their health had worsened since the start of the pandemic, which rose to a third in those aged 34-44 years old. This figure rose to 34 per cent for people living in regional areas.

“They’ve ignored those little niggles to the point where they’ve had to go to hospital, and they’re getting rushed to hospital and having major emergency surgery that could have been avoided if they come in a little bit earlier,” she said.

Almost half of those surveyed said they had cancelled or delayed a healthcare appointment in the past 12 months, with 42 per cent citing fear of contracting corona­virus as their main reasons for delaying healthcare.

Professor Brown couldn’t put her finger on why people continued to avoid GPs and other specialists. “I think it’s really important to get the message out there that it is safe to come to your doctor about hospitalisation or to go to hospital,” she said.

“We now know a lot more about COVID than we did 12 months ago, and hospitals and doctors will have practices in place that will protect them.”