Melburnians who depend on public transport experience more unequal access to hospital care than those who can travel by car—especially in outer suburbs.

The research from the University of Melbourne has shown that travelling via public transport is highly inequitable by mapping how efficiently people in different parts of the city could reach hospitals.

Lecturer in Transport Planning at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning Dr Páraic Carroll analysed accessibility to health care across medium sized regions in outer Melbourne.

“Where you live and how you travel fundamentally shapes your ability to reach essential hospital care,” he said. “For people without access to a private car, large parts of outer Melbourne function as healthcare blind spots.”

The benefits of a policy intervention in spaces with the poorest public transport access was simulated by testing the impact of new local healthcare facilities, such as day procedure clinics.

New facilities could reduce inequity, improve public transport-based access and eliminate outer Melbourne suburbs that are situated more than 120 minutes away from the nearest medical treatment centre.

Carroll has called for healthcare accessibility to be treated as a social justice issue rather than the only concern being for hospital locations.

“As Melbourne grows, planning decisions made now will determine whether access to essential healthcare becomes more equitable or more divided,” he said.

Photo: By Michael Chu is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons Licence. This image has not been modified.