Researchers have developed a new national dataset that maps the distance Australians must travel by car to reach essential healthcare services. The study, published in Scientific Data, uses geographic data and open-source routing tools to highlight significant regional differences in access to hospitals, general practitioners (GPs), and pharmacies.
The research addresses geographic accessibility, which is a key aspect of healthcare delivery. It involves how easily people can physically get to healthcare facilities, considering factors like facility locations, population distribution, and transportation networks.
According to a 2020 report, more than 42,000 people living in various regional or remote areas of Australia had no primary healthcare service within an hour’s drive. Around 65,000 individuals could not reach a GP within the same timeframe. Limited access has been linked with lower use of health services and poorer health outcomes.
For this study, researchers estimated driving distances and travel times from mesh block centroids—the smallest units defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics—to the nearest health services using only car-based routes. Locations for public and private hospitals, emergency departments (EDs), GPs, pharmacies, and bulk-billing GPs were sourced from Healthdirect. The team used k-d trees for efficient retrieval of nearby providers.
Each mesh block centroid was connected to broader geographic categories such as Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1), Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), state or territory boundaries, postal areas approximating postcode limits, and Modified Monash Model (MMM) classifications which describe remoteness.
To calculate travel times and distances accurately across Australia’s road network, OpenStreetMap data was used with an Open Source Routing Machine server. Population-weighted mean distances were calculated for different regions and area classifications.
Findings show that most Australians live within ten minutes’ drive of a pharmacy or GP due to their higher density. However, residents in the Australian Capital Territory face longer trips to emergency departments or public hospitals because there are fewer such facilities relative to its small size. In contrast, the Northern Territory shows wide variability in travel distances due to sparse coverage.
The dataset offers a consistent national resource for studying car-based access to healthcare across Australia. Researchers note that while their routing method produces results similar to commercial navigation systems, some travel times may be underestimated where roads are limited or unavailable.
"The public release of this dataset supports research into healthcare access, utilization, and outcomes," according to the study authors. "It promotes methodological consistency across studies and offers a framework that can be adapted to other countries."
