NEARLY 50 per cent more Bendigo residents were admitted to hospital in potentially preventable circumstances in 2017-18 than the previous year.
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An extra 1000 Bendigo residents were potentially preventably hospitalised that year, according to new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
A total of 2,300 people from Bendigo were admitted to hospital in circumstances that could have been potentially prevented in 2016-17.
This had risen to 3339 people by 2017-18, an increase of 45 per cent.
Bendigo's population rose by two per cent over the same period.
The data is used as a measure of primary care effectiveness, detailing specific hospital admissions that could potentially have been prevented by timely and adequate health care in the community.
Bendigo health professionals warned the city was suffering a shortage of general practitioners in June 2019, saying patients were at risk.
The city was made a priority area to attract GPs that month, but three months on health professionals said patients were still struggling to access care.
Bendigo's rate of potentially preventable hospital admissions in 2017-18 was on par with the rest of the Murray Primary Health Network, but 12 per cent higher than the Victorian average.
Admission rates for diabetes complications, ear nose and throat infections and cellulitis rose the most between 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Nearly 16,600 hospital admissions were preventable in Bendigo between 2012-13 and 2017-18.
The rate was relatively stable between 2012-13 and 2015-16, before dropping slightly between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Urinary tract infections were responsible for the most potentially preventable hospital admissions in Bendigo over the past five years.
Nearly 2000 people were admitted to hospital in Bendigo between 2012-13 and 2017-18 for UTIs in circumstances which could have been prevented.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was the second most frequent cause of potentially preventable hospital admissions in Bendigo between 2012-13 and 2017-18.
A total of 1920 people were admitted to hospital with COPD in the period.
Congestive cardiac failure, dental conditions and iron deficiency anemia were also among the common causes.
About one in every 15 hospitalisations in Australia is classed as potentially preventable.
Older people, Indigenous Australians and people living in remote or disadvantaged areas are more likely to be hospitalised preventably.
COPD is the most common cause for men, UTIs the most frequent for women.
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