Who goes to the doctor most? What for? What's prescribed? How
old are the doctors and how do they practice? These are just some
of the questions answered in a report to be released on Wednesday
by the AIHW's General Practice Statistics and Classification Unit
at the University of Sydney.
Bettering the Evaluation And Care of Health: A Study of
General Practice Activity is the first report from the new
national data collection program - BEACH. As well as summarising
data collected during the first six months of the study, the
interim report describes the study methods in detail.
Head of the General Practice Statistics and Classification Unit,
Dr Helena Britt, said that 'although the role of GPs is widening
and public spending on their services is substantial, until now we
haven't had any regular data collections on general practitioners'
activities.'
'The first 6 months of this study has given us information about
476 general practitioners and 47,600 records of their encounters
with patients. We're really looking forward to having on-going data
to gain an even clearer picture of general practice and changes
over time.'
The interim report's findings include:
- The most frequent reason for going to the doctor was for a
prescription (8.1 per 100 encounters), followed by coughs (7.3 per
100 encounters) and cardiovascular check-up-usually blood pressure
checks (5.3 per 100 encounters).
- Paracetamol was the most commonly prescribed type of drug,
followed by amoxycillin.
- Over 70% of the doctors who participated in the study were
male.
- The majority of patients were female (58%).
- The ages of patients were evenly spread with a quarter in each
of the age groups: under 25 years, 25-44 years, 45-64 years and 65
years and over.
- Almost half the patients (43%) held a Health Care Card, and
3.5% held a Department of Veterans' Affairs card.
- 13% of patients were from a non-English speaking
background.
- 12% of doctors conducted more than 50% of their consultations
in languages other than English.
21 April 1999
Further information: Dr Helena Britt, ph. 02
9845 8150, 02 9747 1221 (ah) or 04 1119 7938 (mobile).
For media copies of the report: Ms Lena Searle,
ph. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for details.