General practitioners are managing increasing numbers of newly
diagnosed problems and chronic conditions, according to a report
released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
(AIHW) and the University of Sydney.
The report, General practice activity in Australia
2008-09, describes general practitioner's activities based on
over 100,000 patient encounters with 1,000 randomly selected
GPs.
The full report is accompanied by a summary report, General
practice activity in Australia 1999-00 to 2008-09: 10 year data
tables, which highlights major changes over time, the
characteristics of GPs, the patients they see, the problems they
manage and the treatments they provide.
'It shows that GPs managed an average of 1.54 problems per
encounter in 2008-09, and estimates that there were 25 million more
problems managed at GP visits in Australia in 2008-09 than in
1999-00,' said Professor Helena Britt of the AIHW's Australian
General Practice Statistics and Classification Centre at the
University of Sydney.
'There were about 5 million more occasions where two problems
were managed, 3 million more occasions where three problems were
managed, and 910,000 more occasions where four problems were
managed by GPs.
'This seemed to be partly driven by an increase in the number of
reasons patients gave for seeing the GP,' she said.
General Practitioners are generally the first port of call in
the Australian health care system, with an average five visits per
person in 2008-09.
The most common reasons for visiting the GP were requests for
check-ups, prescriptions, test results, and immunisations. Other
common reasons included coughs, throat and back complaints, or a
rash
In 2008-09 patients saw a GP more often about their diabetes,
hypertension and depression.
Medications were the most common treatment choice (69 per 100
problems managed). Most of these medications were prescribed
(rather than supplied or advised), at a rate of 56 per 100 problems
managed.
Over the 10 years from 1999-00, GPs referred their patients more
often, particularly to specialists, with a smaller increase in
referrals to allied health services.
For every 100 patient encounters, GPs ordered 46 pathology tests
and 10 imaging tests.
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Further information: Professor Helena Britt
tel. 02 9845 8150 or mob. 0411 197 938
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. (02) 6244 1032.
General practice activity in Australia 2008-09
Report
summaryFull
report
General practice activity in Australia 1999-00 to 2008-09:
10 year data tables
Report
summaryFull
report