Data was collected via registration forms and a survey instrument administered by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, in conjunction with the annual registration renewal process for medical practitioners.
The report says that medical practitioners work in various settings using their knowledge and skills as qualified health practitioners.
“Under the National Law, a medical practitioner is a person who holds registration with the Medical Board of Australia., with the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations revision 1 (ANZSCO) (ABS 2009) providing the following definition: ‘A medical practitioner (commonly referred to as a doctor) is a person whose primary ployment role is to diagnose physical and mental illnesses, disorders and injuries and prescribe medications and treatment to promote or restore good health’.”
The information presented in the report was collected from medical practitioners when they renewed their registration via the mandatory registration process administered by the AHPRA. An optional survey at the time of the registration process collected a range of additional dographic and workforce information at the same time.
Where the data allows, the report compares the 2011 results with estimates derived from surveys conducted in earlier years. Registration data from AHPRA are also presented for comparison.
The main findings of the report were:
– In 2011, there were 87,790 medical practitioners registered in Australia, and 85.3% of th responded to the workforce survey.
– Between 2007 and 2011, the number of medical practitioners ployed in medicine increased by 17.3% from 67,208 to 78,833. In 2011, 93.8% (73,980) were working as clinicians, of whom 33.1% were specialists and 33.9% were general practitioners.
– Of those ployed as non-clinicians (6.2% of all ployed medical practitioners), more than half were researchers (26.9%) or administrators (27.7%).
– Physician was the largest main specialty of practice among both clinician specialists and total specialists (5,157 and 5,689 respectively). The second-largest main specialty for clinician specialists and specialists (3,951 and 4,125 respectively) was surgery.
– The average weekly hours worked by ployed medical practitioners rained stable between 2007 and 2011. In 2011, male medical practitioners worked an average of 45.9 hours per week, while fale medical practitioners worked an average of 38.7 hours per week. In 2011, both male and fale medical practitioners aged 20-34 worked the highest average weekly hours.
– The overall supply of clinicians across all states and territories increased between 2007 and 2011, from 323.5 full-time equivalents per 100,000 population in 2007 to 360.4 in 2011.
– Between 2007 and 2011, there was also a rise in the supply of ployed medical practitioners in all regional areas, including major cities, inner regional areas, outer regional areas and rote/very rote areas.
– The average age of medical practitioners decreased slightly from 2007 to 2011 (45.9 to 45.5 years).
– Women are increasingly represented in the medical practitioner workforce, growing to 37.6% of ployed practitioners in 2011 (up from 34.0% in 2007). Among clinicians, in 2011, women accounted for 48.0% of hospital non-specialists compared to 25.6% of specialists.
– In 2011, 264 ployed medical practitioners identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, representing 0.3% of all ployed medical practitioners in Australia.
