‘Dire’ number of bulk billing clinics revealed across the Northern Territory

A national survey of GP clinics costs shows how the Northern Territory compares in bulk-billing rates and out-of-pocket fees. Find out how the Top End compares to the rest of Australia.

The number of Northern Territory doctor’s clinics which bulk bill is significantly below the national average, according to an Australia-wide survey of general practices.

But the out-of-pocket costs for visits rank among the lowest in the country.

Health comparison site Cleanbill conducted a survey of more than 4000 clinics, revealing stark differences between each major capital city and the entirety of Tasmania, ACT and the NT.

“The idea behind putting together that research was to provide people with an idea of how much it’s going to cost to see a doctor,” founder James Gillespie said.

James Gillespie, founder of Cleanbill, has ranked each state by rate of GP clinic bulk billing. Picture: Supplied

In the NT, about one in five (20.6 per cent) of GP clinics bulk bill. The national average was 42.7 per cent.

It was the third lowest rate in the country, coming in behind the ACT (5.1 per cent) and Tasmania (6.9 per cent).

Mr Gillespie said while this finding for the NT was “dire” it wasn’t all bad news.

“We did see out of pocket costs that closely resemble the national average, sitting at $36.87 for a standard 15-minute consultation,” he said.

“Across the board, the NT more closely resembles the big cities compared with ACT and Tasmania and data that more sits with Brisbane and Adelaide.”

The average out-of-pocket cost was $40.25, going as low as $34.81 in the Greater Adelaide area and as high as $49.01 in the ACT.

Mr Gillespie said it was worth noting, while the survey did cover 4188 clinics across Australia, only 37 of them were in the NT, making it hard to break down data into a suburb-by-suburb comparison.

The report also found the rate of NT clinics not taking on new patients was just under 10 per cent, on par with the national average.

Mr Gillespie said the company would be doing further research into Aboriginal health services and community clinics.

He said he hoped this research would help people in the Northern Territory get on top of any health concerns.

“We know it’s becoming increasingly hard for people to find doctors they can afford,” he said.

“The key message for Territorians to take out of this report is that there is affordable medical care available, it’s just a matter of where to find it.”

“Hopefully this report can help with that.”

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Originally published as ‘Dire’ number of bulk billing clinics revealed across the Northern Territory