The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released its report into the medical workforce trends between 2006 and 2010, finding the number of practitioners in Australia increased by 13 per cent in that time.

 

The report, Medical Workforce 2010, provides information on the demographic and employment statistics of registered medical practitioners.

 

The report found that the supply of medical practitioners in rural Australia had increased, while the proportion of women in the medical practitioner workforce has continued to grow, from 34 per cent of employed practitioners in 2006 to 37 per cent in 2010.

 

Across Australia (excluding Queensland and WA), over 90% of all medical practitioners worked as clinicians, of whom 36% were specialists and 35% were GPs.

 

The average weekly hours worked by employed medical practitioners decreased slightly from 43.5 hours in 2006 to 43.3 hours in 2010. Over the same period, average hours worked by men decreased slightly, while hours worked by women increased.

 

The supply of medical practitioners varied across areas of remoteness, ranging from 400 full-time equivalent (FTE) medical practitioners per 100,000 people in Major cities to 185 per 100,000 people in Outer regional areas.

 

‘The larger supply of medical practitioners in Major cities reflects the much higher numbers of specialists and specialists-in-training working in Major cities,’ said AIHW spokesperson Teresa Dickinson.

 

‘When looking only at the supply of general practitioners (GPs), the numbers are quite similar—105 FTEs per 100,000 people inMajor cities and 103 FTEs per 100,000 people in Outer regional areas.’

 

Between 2006 and 2010, the number of employed medical practitioners in Major cities increased by 10.0% and in Outer regional areas, by 11.9%, which was more than the population growth in these areas.

 

Medical practitioners in Outer regional areas in 2010 worked, on average, 2 hours per week more than the national average (45.3 compared with 43.3). GPs in Outer regional areas worked an average 44.5 hours a week compared with the national average for GPs of 39.2 hours.

 

The full report can be found here