Lack of transport is a barrier for accessing GP services, particularly for disabled people

Posted 25 hours ago by Kirsty Craig 1 Minute(s) to read

We have just updated two of our surveillance reports in the Transport domain using data from the 2024/25 NZ Health Survey – 'Unmet need for GP services due to a lack of transport', and 'Active transport to and from school'.

The key facts and links for each surveillance report are below.

Unmet need for GP services due to a lack of transport

In 2024/25, an estimated 150,000 New Zealanders (1.6% of children and 3.1% of adults) experienced an unmet need for GP services in the past 12 months due to a lack of transport.
Disabled people were more than 6 times as likely as non-disabled people to be unable to access GP services due to a lack of transport, with around 1 in 9 people (11.2%) affected in 2024/25.
Lack of transport was also a barrier to Māori and Pacific people of all ages in 2024/25. Amongst adults in these groups, 4.6% of Māori and 5.5% of Pacific peoples had missed a GP visit due to a lack of transport, as had 3.0% of Māori children and 2.3% of Pacific children.

Report: Unmet need for GP lack of transport.pdf

Active transport to and from school

In 2024/25, 38.6% of children aged 5–14 years used active transport to travel to or from school. The percentage of children using active transport to school has been below 40% for each of the past 3 years.
In 2024/25, there were no significant differences in the use of active transport between ethnic groups, socioeconomic deprivation groups, or by health region.

Report: Active transport to school.pdf