Australia’s public hospitals employed about 251,000 full-time equivalent staff in 2009–10, and private hospitals employed over 52,000 in 2008–09 (ABS 210).
These statistics do not include visiting medical officers in public hospitals (who are paid on contract, rather than as staff) and most medical officers who provide services in private hospitals (where the patients and Medicare mainly cover payment, rather than the hospitals). Hospital employees include medical officers (such as surgeons, anaesthetists and other specialists), nurses, diagnostic and allied health professionals (such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists), administrative and clerical staff, and domestic and other personal care staff.
Public hospitals
The largest staffing category in public hospitals is nurses, who made up 45% of the full-time equivalent staff numbers in 2009–10. Medical officers comprised 12% of staff and diagnostic and allied health professionals together comprised 14%.
The number of salaried medical officers increased by an average of 7.5% annually between 2005–06 and 2009–10, to 31,000. The number of nurses increased by an annual average of 3.6%, to 114,000 in 2009–10 (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Average full-time equivalent staff, public hospitals, 2005–06 to 2009–10
Private hospitals
The staffing mix in private hospitals is somewhat different from that in public hospitals, because most medical services are not provided by hospital employees and the range of services provided is different. The largest staffing category in private hospitals is nurses, who made up 60% of the full-time equivalent staff numbers in 2008–09. Medical officers and diagnostic and allied health professionals comprised 7% of full-time equivalent staff.