How many gps are there in australia

How much should we worry about alleged vaccine trial misconduct? Diet doesn't affect autism, confirms Aussie study. Log In Welcome to AusDoc. You can use your existing login credentials for any of these sites to gain entry. Log in. To ensure you get the right membership, please select your vocation: Healthcare Professional Medical Student Other. Toggle navigation. Home News Statistics Statistics. Registration Data The public national register of practitioners means that it is possible to produce accurate reports on the number of practitioners in each profession in Australia.

PDF KB. PDF 1. Word version KB. In , the median age of GPs was 43 years, an increase of one year since The median age of specialists was slightly higher 44 years in , a slight decrease from 45 years. There was some difference in the median age of nurses, rising from 42 years in to 45 years in This is due in part to higher numbers of nurses working in the older age groups.

While the median age of doctors and nurses has seen some change between and , the proportion of GPs and nurses who were approaching retirement age has increased.

GPs worked an average of 42 hours in the week prior to the Census, three hours less than the average for specialists 45 hours. In comparison, people employed in occupations other than GPs and specialists worked an average of 37 hours in the week prior to the Census.

The hours worked by doctors varied considerably between men and women. As in many occupations, female doctors were more likely to work part-time than their male counterparts.

Among male specialists, obstetricians, cardiologists and surgeons including neurosurgeons, paediatric surgeons, and cardiothoracic surgeons were particularly likely to be working long hours.

In , a considerable proportion of doctors aged 50 years or more were working part-time. More nurses work part-time Nurses worked an average of 33 hours in the week preceding the Census. Individual earnings for employees tend to vary widely according to the number of hours worked, the type of work done, the level of experience and the level of responsibility associated with a job. And nurses? This lower income reflects their relative level of qualifications within the nursing profession.

While there is no nationally recognised 'ideal' medical workforce to population ratio, Endnote 7 increases in the ratio of doctors and nurses to the population over the past decade provide a sign that initiatives to increase supply are having some effect.

However, the medical workforce remains unevenly distributed between the states and territories, and particularly between major cities and remote areas. The number of doctors and nurses compared to the size of the Australian population has increased in the ten years to Since , the per capita rate of GPs to population increased from The rate per capita of specialists increased from People can travel to the closest, or most appropriate, health service, regardless of where they live.

However the ratio of doctors and nurses to the population of a State or Territory gives an indication of the availability of doctors and nurses within that State or Territory. In , the Northern Territory had the highest rate of medical practitioners overall, with a per capita rate of The Northern Territory had the highest per capita rate of GPs However the Northern Territory had the lowest per capita rate of specialists Western Australia had the lowest per capita rate of GPs South Australia had the highest rate of nurses, with 1, Western Australia had the lowest ratio of nurses, with 1, One of the most well known services delivering extensive health care and hour emergency service to Australians in rural and remote areas is the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Endnote 8 However, despite such well respected initiatives such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the per capita ratio of doctors working in Australia's major cities, regional and remote areas varies considerably. In , the per capita ratio of GPs to population in major cities The ratio of specialists working in regional areas was around half Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing Travelling to a doctor The significant difference in the location and number of doctors in regional and remote areas compared with major cities means that regional and remote patients often have to travel further than their city counterparts to access specialist doctors.

Doctors work longer hours outside major cities In addition to a lower per capita ratio of medical professionals outside major cities, GPs and specialists who work in remote areas work more hours than their city counterparts. In , GPs working in remote areas of Australia worked an average of 45 hours in the week before Census, compared with 43 hours for those working in regional areas and 42 hours for those in major cities. Specialists working in remote areas worked an average of 49 hours, compared with 45 hours for those in regional areas and in major cities.

Nurses As with doctors, the per capita ratio of nurses to population in remote areas Unlike doctors, the ratio of nurses to population was higher in inner regional areas 1, Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing Nurses who were working in remote areas worked an average of 37 hours in the week before the Census, compared with 33 hours for those working in major cities or regional areas where nurse to population ratios were much higher.

The number of overseas born doctors and nurses in Australia has increased in recent years. More have arrived in the last five years The proportion of medical practitioners born overseas who were recent arrivals that is, those who arrived to live in Australia in the preceding five years has also increased. The increase in overseas born doctors is consistent with recent investments by Commonwealth, State and Territory governments into initiatives aimed at increasing the numbers of medical practitioners in Australia.

Endnote 4 What countries were they born in?