The number of medical practitioners working in Australia
continues to rise, but doctors are choosing to work fewer hours,
according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Head of AIHW's Labour Force and Rural Health Unit, Glenice
Taylor, said that the number of doctors in Australia rose by 10%
from 51,106 to 56,207 practitioners between 2000 and 2003.
'But they worked an average of 44.4 hours per week in 2003,
compared with 45.5 hours in 2000,' Ms Taylor said.
'This translates into an increase in supply from 270 to 279
full-time equivalent (FTE) practitioners per 100,000 population
over the period.'
Similarly, there was a 4% growth in the number of primary care
practitioners (mainly GPs), from 21,081 to 21,919. This was also
accompanied by a drop from 41.9 to 40.9 hours worked per week,
resulting in an overall drop in supply from 102 to 100 FTE per
100,000 population.
Ms Taylor says that reasons behind the trend towards working
fewer hours are complex, and may have been influenced by an ageing
workforce and a growing proportion of female doctors.
Traditionally, both these groups have worked fewer hours than their
male counterparts.
'Employed doctors were, on average, older in 2003 than in 2000
(45.9 years compared to 45.6 years), and the proportion who were
female grew from 30.1% to 31.9%,' Ms Taylor said.
'Independent of demographic factors, however, there appeared to
be a general resistance to working long hours,' she said.
The AIHW report, Medical Labour Force 2003, shows that
the proportion of doctors working 50 hours or more per week fell
from 47.9% to 43.7% between 2000 and 2003. For primary care
practitioners, the proportion dropped from 37.7% to 33.9%.
There were optimistic signs for regional and remote areas, with
increases in FTE rates across all geographic areas-from rises of 12
FTE per 100,000 population in major cities and in outer regional
areas, to a rise of 5 FTE per 100,000 in very remote areas - mainly
due to increases in the supply of specialists and hospital
non-specialists.
'Practitioners in remote and very remote areas were, on average,
1 to 2 years younger and worked about 6 hours more per week than
the average,' Ms Taylor said.
Other key findings in the report include:
- All states and territories experienced an increase in supply of
medical practitioners- except Western Australia, which fell from
245 FTE per 100,000 in 2000 to 232 in 2003.
- The supply of primary care practitioners increased in inner and
outer regional areas, but decreased in all other regions, although
this was offset by increases in the supply of hospital
non-specialists, who also provide primary care.
- The average age of primary care practitioners increased by 1
year, from 47.8 to 48.8 years. The proportion who were female rose
from 34.0% to 36.2%, and in 2003 female GPs were younger than their
male colleagues (44.4 years for females and 51.4 years for
males).
19 August 2005
Further information: Ms Glenice Taylor, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1153
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Medical Labour Force
2003