Data table
Prescribers working in the public sector had, on average, more than twice as many clients as prescribers in the private sector (33 clients per prescriber compared with 12, respectively) (Table S22).
Clients per prescriber
Nationally, client to prescriber ratios in private sectors remained relatively stable between 2019 and 2020 (Table S22).
Private prescribers had a lower average number of clients than public prescribers in all jurisdictions except Tasmania. Victoria had no public prescribers.
Nationally, prescribers working in correctional facilities had an average of 33 clients in 2020. This varies widely at the state and territory level, from 5 clients per prescriber in the Northern Territory to 65 in Victoria (Table 2).
The Australian Capital Territory had the highest ratio of clients to prescribers in the public sector (59) followed by Western Australia (48). Queensland had the highest ratio of clients to prescribers in the private sector (27).
Table 2: Ratio of clients to prescriber type, states and territories, 2020
Prescriber type |
NSW |
Vic |
Qld |
WA |
SA |
Tas |
ACT |
NT |
Aust |
Public prescriber |
33.2 |
— |
30.1 |
47.8 |
30.6 |
10.4 |
58.8 |
14.4 |
32.8 |
Private prescriber |
17.0 |
8.9 |
27.1 |
21.8 |
8.2 |
16.0 |
7.0 |
1.5 |
12.2 |
Public/private prescriber |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
67.5 |
— |
— |
45.0 |
Correctional facility |
46.1 |
64.8 |
12.1 |
10.1 |
35.9 |
31.0 |
16.0 |
5.0 |
33.1 |
Total |
22.3 |
9.4 |
24.0 |
25.3 |
11.6 |
17.0 |
16.2 |
11.2 |
15.6 |
— Nil or rounded to zero.
Notes:
- This ratio was calculated using the formula: number of clients, by prescriber type and state/territory (Table S3) divided by registered prescribers by prescriber type and state/territory (Table S15).
- WA and SA have prescribers who prescribe in more than one location, and as such are counted more than once. This will lead to slightly deflated client to prescriber ratios in these jurisdictions.
Source: National opioid pharmacotherapy statistics annual data (NOPSAD) 2020 collection. Supplementary Table S22.
Almost half (48%) of prescribers treated between 1 and 5 clients, with 9.7% treating more than 50 clients—the majority of which were in New South Wales and Victoria (77%). Across states and territories, the proportion of pharmacotherapy prescribers treating between 1 and 5 clients ranged from 13% in Queensland to 79% in the Northern Territory. Around 21% of prescribers were not treating any clients on the snapshot day (Table 3).
Table 3: Clients receiving pharmacotherapy treatment on a snapshot day per prescriber, states and territories, 2020
Clients per prescriber |
NSW |
Vic |
Qld |
WA |
SA |
Tas |
ACT |
NT |
Total |
Total (%) |
0 pharmacotherapy clients |
— |
553 |
164 |
— |
— |
— |
15 |
— |
732 |
21.4 |
1–5 pharmacotherapy clients |
635 |
651 |
39 |
66 |
189 |
16 |
25 |
11 |
1,632 |
47.7 |
6–10 pharmacotherapy clients |
87 |
93 |
18 |
14 |
19 |
4 |
5 |
— |
240 |
7.0 |
11–15 pharmacotherapy clients |
41 |
64 |
11 |
9 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
— |
142 |
4.1 |
16–20 pharmacotherapy clients |
34 |
23 |
12 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
88 |
2.6 |
21–25 pharmacotherapy clients |
23 |
29 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
— |
72 |
2.1 |
26–50 pharmacotherapy clients |
64 |
61 |
17 |
14 |
16 |
6 |
6 |
— |
184 |
5.4 |
51–100 pharmacotherapy clients |
80 |
43 |
24 |
14 |
12 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
179 |
5.2 |
101+ pharmacotherapy clients |
63 |
68 |
3 |
11 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
— |
153 |
4.5 |
Total |
1,027 |
1,585 |
292 |
134 |
261 |
40 |
69 |
14 |
3,422 |
100.0 |
— Nil or rounded to zero.
Notes:
- Prescribers classified as treating '0 pharmacotherapy clients' on a snapshot day must have held an authority to prescribe and had a client who was receiving treatment during the collection year.
- These data were introduced into the collection in 2014.
Source: National opioid pharmacotherapy statistics annual data (NOPSAD) 2020 collection. Supplementary Table S19.
Did drug treatment vary between prescriber types?
Treatment varied between prescriber types.
Treatment type
In 2020, methadone was the most commonly prescribed drug across all prescriber types. However, a higher proportion of clients in correctional facilities were prescribed methadone (2,605 or 63% of clients) when compared with clients of private (60%) and public prescribers (7,968 or 53%). Clients of private prescribers were more likely to be prescribed buprenorphine-naloxone (7,696 or 23%) compared with public (2,850 or 19%) and correctional facility (316 or 7.6%) prescribers (Table S12). Given that clients prescribed buprenorphine-naloxone in New South Wales are reported as receiving buprenorphine, the proportion of clients receiving buprenorphine-naloxone nationally is likely to be an underestimate.
Client characteristics
Based on 2020 unit record data from 6 states and territories (excludes data from Victoria and Queensland) on a snapshot day, clients of prescribers in correctional facilities were more likely to be:
- Younger (Table S27)—correctional facilities treated clients aged under 30 at 2.9 times the rate of public prescribers and 3.9 times that of private prescribers.
- Correctional facilities treated clients aged between 30 and 39 years at 1.5 times the rate than that of public prescribers and 1.8 times the rate than that of private prescribers. This has remained relatively stable since 2016.
- 1 in 10 (10.1%) clients treated in correctional facilities were aged 50 years and over, compared with 3 in 10 clients treated by public prescribers (32%) and almost 4 in 10 by private prescribers (38%).
- Males (Table S28)—correctional facilities treated about 9 males for every female. Public and private prescriber types were generally similar in terms of the proportion of male and female clients treated, each treating about twice as many males as females.