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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

	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