Cost of living crisis: Patients ‘missing appointments to save on petrol’

The cost of living is rising faster than ever.
Sarah Simpkins
Dr Tim Senior
Dr Tim Senior.

New patients are drifting in to see Dr Tim Senior.

His practice, an Aboriginal health service, is seeing an increasing number of patients with “a lot of problems not related to being Aboriginal”.

“They are actually the problems of not having enough money,” he says.

Earlier this year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced the harshest rise in the cost of living for workers on record: a 9.6% jump between March 2022 and 2023.