This paper explores the usefulness of the 2001 Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey (2001 NHS) for examining access to and use of quality primary health care (PHC) in Australia, using diabetes as an example.

Potential indicators of access to and use of quality diabetes care were investigated (diagnosis, preventive pharmacotherapy, complication screening, multidisciplinary care and hospitalisation), and their association with various factors including socioeconomic and diabetes-related health status was assessed.

Older Australian-born females were more likely to receive preventive pharmacotherapy, whereas complication screening was associated with duration of disease. Multidisciplinary care was associated with recent hospitalisation and not health need assessed by presence of comorbidity.

This novel use of the 2001 NHS provided information on patterns of access to and use of diabetes-related PHC that were consistent with previous research. It suggests a new role for survey data in monitoring access to and use of PHC over time and complementing other population health data collections in this area.