Closing the After-Hours Patient Experience Gap

The 2024–25 ABS Patient Experiences survey brought some encouraging news for Australian general practice. Fewer Australians delayed seeing a GP (26.6%, down from 29.2% the year before), and more patients could see their preferred doctor when needed. After years of pressure on the primary care system, the needle is moving in the right direction.

But one gap persists — and it's one that practices can actually close.

After-hours accessibility remains a consistent pain point for Australian patients. When the doors lock and the phones go to voicemail, a significant portion of patients are left without a clear path forward. Some head to emergency departments for non-urgent concerns. Others wait until morning and hope the appointment book isn't already full. Many simply don't call back at all.

What the Data Actually Shows

The ABS figures tell a nuanced story. While overall GP access improved in 2024–25, nearly half of Australians (47.0%) waited 24 hours or more to see a GP even for urgent care. More than one in four (26.0%) felt they'd waited longer than they considered acceptable.

These aren't failures of clinical care — they're often failures of access. And a significant part of that access problem starts at the phone.

Research from across the healthcare sector paints a concerning picture of phone accessibility at medical practices. Studies suggest that between 23% and 42% of incoming calls to practices go unanswered during business hours — sent to voicemail, dropped on hold, or abandoned by the caller. After hours, the gap is wider still: an estimated 67% of after-hours patient calls go unanswered entirely.

The consequences are immediate. Research shows 85% of patients who can't reach a practice on their first attempt won't call back. They find another provider, delay care, or — in more urgent cases — present to a hospital emergency department.

What Patients Are Actually Looking For

Patient experience research consistently shows that Australians aren't looking for perfection — they're looking for responsiveness.

The 2024–25 ABS data shows 99% of people felt they could see a GP when needed, but that headline figure masks the friction that happens before the appointment is even booked. The journey starts with being able to reach the practice at all.

Patients consistently value:

• Being heard quickly. Long hold times and unanswered calls are among the most frequently cited frustrations in patient satisfaction surveys. Many callers hang up after two minutes on hold — and most won't try again.
• Clear communication. The ABS data found 16.3% of Australians experienced problems caused by poor communication between health professionals. When a patient can't reach their regular practice after hours and ends up in urgent care, the information chain breaks down.
• Continuity of care. Only 67.2% of patients could always see their preferred GP — and continuity is a proven driver of better health outcomes and patient trust.
• Confidence that help is there when needed. Especially for patients managing chronic conditions — who reported higher rates of access difficulty — knowing they can reach their practice outside a 9-to-5 window is a clinical safety consideration, not a luxury.

Where Practices Can Make a Real Difference

The good news is that a meaningful portion of the patient experience gap sits within a practice's direct control. Clinical complexity isn't usually the problem — accessibility is.

Review phone coverage during peak periods. Mondays, Friday afternoons, and the hour before close are predictably high-call-volume times. Ensuring adequate staffing — or having an overflow solution in place — can prevent callers from falling through the cracks during the busiest windows.

Give clear after-hours guidance. Patients should never be left wondering what to do. A well-worded after-hours message with clear direction — whether to an on-call line, a telehealth option, or an after-hours service — is a simple but high-impact step.

Reduce appointment booking friction. If patients can only book by phone during business hours, the barrier to access is unnecessarily high. Offering online booking, even for a subset of appointment types, can meaningfully ease the load on reception and improve the overall experience.

Address the after-hours phone gap. This is where many practices find it hardest to act without adding significant cost. Some are beginning to explore AI-assisted call answering — tools like Liza from Voral.ai can handle overflow and after-hours calls, book appointments directly into the PMS, and escalate anything that genuinely needs a human — as a way to maintain round-the-clock accessibility without extending staff hours.

The Bigger Picture

The ABS trends are genuinely encouraging. Fewer Australians are going without care, and practices are improving. But patient expectations are rising alongside that progress. The same person who can contact their bank at 11pm and get a coherent response will notice when their GP practice goes to voicemail at 5:01pm on a Wednesday.

The practices that build genuine accessibility — not just within business hours, but around the actual rhythms of their patients' lives — are the ones that earn lasting loyalty.

And so much of it starts with simply answering the phone.