8689.0 - Private Medical Practitioners, Australia, 2002  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/10/2002   
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OVERVIEW

Introduction

This publication presents results for 2002, from an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey of private practice medical practitioners. The survey provides basic demographic and workload information for general practitioners and specialists by broad type of specialty and the geographic area in which their services were provided. Information on hours worked and number of private patient contacts in an average working week are also shown.

Chapter 1 provides summary information about all medical practitioners mainly working in private practice. Chapter 2 contains more detailed information about general practitioners and Chapter 3 contains information on specialists.

For further information on the scope of the survey see paragraphs 2-4 of the Explanatory Notes.

Characteristics of private practice medical practitioners

There were an estimated 29,377 medical practitioners in Australia who were within the scope of the 2002 survey of private practice medical practitioners.

Most medical practitioners (27,560 or 94%) worked in only one private medical business, with 6% (1,817 practitioners) working in two or more medical businesses.

The majority (64%) of the 29,377 medical practitioners worked as general practitioners with 36% working as specialists.

Males accounted for 74% of all private practice medical practitioners (67% of general practitioners and 86% of specialists).

Private practice medical practitioners worked an average of 50 hours per week with general practitioners working an average of 47 hours per week compared with 54 hours per week for specialists.

Private practice medical practitioners had an average of 116 private patient contacts per week (136 for general practitioners and 81 for specialists).


TABLE 1.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

no.

General practitioners
Males
12,624
Females
6,244
Total (a)
18,867
Specialists
Males
9,071
Females
1,438
Total
10,509
Total
Males
21,695
Females
7,682
Total
29,377
Average hours worked per week
General practitioners
47
Specialists
54
Total
50
Average private patient contacts per week
General practitioners
136
Specialists
81
Total
116

(a) Of the total number of general practitioners, 1853 were
rural general practice proceduralists.
Copyright © Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002

TABLE 1.2 NUMBER OF PRACTITIONERS, By Number of Medical Businesses

Working in one business (a)
Working in two or more businesses
Total
no.
no.
no.

General practitioners
17,406
1,461
18,867
Specialists
10,154
356
10,509
Total
27,560
1,817
29,377

(a) These figures include a small number of practitioners directly working in
an administrative service business rather than a medical business.
Copyright © Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002