Economic Needs Analysis Report · MCU15/0122

General Practitioners

As the main initial contact for health care, the supply of general practitioners is a useful
indicator of people’s access to health services. Between 2004 and 2013, GP numbers
increased in all States and Territories however the rate of GP provision has fluctuated and
declined since 2004 from a high of 113.5 (2009) to 108.5 full-time equivalent GP’s per 100,000
of population in 2013.

GP’s are more evenly distributed across geographic regions compared to other types of
clinicians because they are not likely to be hospital-based as most specialists are. This is best
demonstrated in TABLE 5.2 below whereby specialists are linked more closely with major
cities and often require patients to travel from remote areas to access services.

TABLE 5.2: Medical practitioners, FTE per 100,000 population by Remoteness Area
                                Major        Inner        Outer      Remote/Very
 Principal area of practice                                                          Australia
                                cities      regional     regional      remote
 Clinician                      405.1        275.2        249.5         248.6          364.9
   General practitioner (GP)    106.4        110.1        112.2         134.7          108.5
   Hospital non-specialist       53.2        36.4          31.5          41.7          48.1
   Specialist                   154.8        80.2          58.3          30.7          130.1
   Specialist-in-training        80.9        42.6          41.6          30.4          69.4
   Other clinician               9.8          5.9           6.0          11.1           8.8
 Non-clinician                   20.5         7.4           8.5           8.1          16.9
  Total                         425.6        282.6        258.0         256.7          381.8
Source: AIHW


Specialists

Clinical specialties include a broad range of practice areas and fields which are often limited
in service provision by geographical areas. The nature of specialty fields and professions which
are typically provided by a small number of practitioners can greatly concentrate the
provision of specialists within major cities as demonstrated in TABLE 5.2 above. This
concentration is most acute within and proximate to hospitals.

Converse to the declining rate of GP provision, the specialist workforce continues to grow
from 110.3 per 100,000 in 2004 to 130.1 per 100,000 in 2013. It should be recognised that
growth in the specialist workforce is not even across all disciplines and does not always match
the health needs of a population. The Australia’s Future Health Workforce (AFHW) Report
highlights the need to understand that “the medical workforce should be matched to the
community’s requirements for health services, including where those services are required
geographically and in what specialty.”

According to Health Workforce Australia (HWA), of the 64 recognised specialties within
Australia, more than 60% of specialists are within just 10 ‘desirable’ specialties.


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