National Opioid Pharmacotherapy Statistics Annual Data collection

Medical personnel, including general practitioners, nurse practitioners and other medical specialists, can prescribe opioid pharmacotherapy. For more information see Technical notes: NOPSAD collection: Data and methods.

What were the numbers and types of opioid pharmacotherapy prescribers?

On a snapshot day in 2025, there were 3,357 authorised prescribers of opioid pharmacotherapy drugs in Australia. Of these prescribers:

• Almost 2 in 3 (64% or 2,133 prescribers) were authorised to prescribe more than 1 type of drug.
• Around 1 in 8 (12% or 393 prescribers) were authorised to prescribe buprenorphine-naloxone only.
• 1 in 10 (10% or 348) were authorised to prescribe methadone only (Figure PRESCRIBER 1, Tables S15 and S16).

Long term trends in authorised prescribers show a large increase between 2011 and 2020 with a more than doubling of prescribers (from 1,549 to 3,422 prescribers), note there was no data for Western Australia in 2023 and for Queensland in 2021. Following a drop in 2022 (the last time comparable data were available), there were 2,982 authorised prescribers, before numbers rose in 2025 (3,357 prescribers) (Figure PRESCRIBER 1; Table S16).

Between 2011 and 2025:

• The number of prescribers authorised to prescribe more than one type of drug increased overall, though this fluctuated over time.
• The number of prescribers authorised to prescribe methadone only, was similar in 2025 (348 prescribers) compared to 2011 (346), following fluctuations over time.

Where did opioid pharmacotherapy prescribers work?

Prescribers are classified according to the sector in which they are working when prescribing pharmacotherapy drugs to clients:

• Private prescribers work in organisations that are not part of government, such as private general practice clinics.
• Public prescribers work in organisations that are part of government or are government-controlled, such as public drug and alcohol clinics and public hospitals.
• Correctional facility prescribers work in prisons or other correctional services.

On a snapshot day in 2025, more than 3 in 4 prescribers (77% or 2,592 prescribers) worked in the private sector. The remainder worked in the public sector (18% or 594 prescribers), correctional facilities (4.6% or 153), or in both the public and private sector (0.5% or 18 prescribers) (Table PRESCRIBER 1).

— Nil or rounded to zero.

Note

1. States and territories have different guidelines and policies regarding training and registration to prescribe opioid pharmacotherapy types.

Of the 57,740 clients receiving pharmacotherapy treatment on a snapshot day in 2025:

• Around half (51% or 29,504 clients) received treatment from a private prescriber.
• 1 in 3 (29% or 16,850 clients) received treatment from a public prescriber 
• 1 in 8 (12.2% or 7,022) from a correctional facility prescriber (Table S12).

Across most jurisdictions with available data:

• The most common prescriber type was private prescriber (ranging from 44% of clients in New South Wales to 86% in Victoria). 
• Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, the most common prescriber type was public prescriber (ranging from 44% of clients in Queensland to 94% in the Northern Territory) (Table S3). 

How many clients did opioid pharmacotherapy prescribers treat?

For prescribers on a snapshot day in 2025, each prescriber treated an average of 17 clients nationally. Queensland had the highest number of clients per prescriber (29 clients), while Victoria had the lowest (11 clients).

From 2017 to 2025, the average number of clients per prescriber in New South Wales dropped by 23%. This ratio decrease is primarily driven by an increase in the number of prescribers from 858 in 2017 to 1,349 in 2025.

Note there was no data for Western Australia in 2023 and for Queensland in 2021 (see Figure PRESCRIBER 2; Table S21).

Nationally, the ratio of clients to prescribers varied by sector:

• On average, prescribers working in the public sector had more than twice as many clients as prescribers in the private sector (28 and 11 clients per prescriber, respectively) (Table S22). 
• Client to prescriber ratios in private sectors remained relatively stable between 2019 and 2025 (Table S22). In 2025 private prescribers had a lower average number of clients than public prescribers in all jurisdictions except Queensland. Victoria had no public prescribers, and the Northern Territory had no private prescribers.
• Prescribers working in correctional facilities each had an average of 46 clients in 2025. This varies widely at the state and territory level, from 1 client per prescriber in Tasmania to 139 in Victoria (Table S22). 

At the state and territory level:

• In the public sector, Tasmania had the highest ratio of clients to prescribers (45 clients) followed by the South Australia (41). 
• In the private sector, Queensland had the highest ratio of clients to prescribers (28 clients per prescriber) (Table S22). 

On a snapshot day in 2025:

• Over 3 in 5 prescribers (62% or 2,081 prescribers) treated 1–5 clients. 
• Over one in 10 prescribers (11% or 367) treated more than 50 clients (Table S19).

Across states and territories, the proportion of pharmacotherapy prescribers:

• Treating 1–5 clients ranged from 22% (2 prescribers) in the Northern Territory to 72% (146 prescribers) in South Australia.
• Around 4% of prescribers were not treating any clients on the snapshot day; prescribers with 0 clients were reported for Queensland and Victoria in 2025 (Table S19).

Did pharmacotherapy drug treatment vary with prescriber types?

In 2025, methadone was the most commonly prescribed drug across all prescriber types. However, there were some differences in the proportion of clients receiving each pharmacotherapy drug treatment type by prescriber type: 

• A higher proportion of all clients of private prescribers were prescribed methadone (48% or 14,204 clients) compared to all clients of public prescribers (36% or 6,094 clients) and clients in correctional facilities (17% or 1,224 clients). 
• A higher proportion of all clients of correctional facilities were prescribed buprenorphine LAI (73% or 5,140 clients) compared to all clients of public prescribers (32% or 5,388 clients) or private prescribers (20% or 5,848 clients) (Table S12). 

When analysing NSW buprenorphine prior to 2023, consideration should be given to buprenorphine numbers as the formulation categories were not reported separately.

In 2025, Western Australia was unable to provide a breakdown of pharmacotherapy types for prescriber types due to system changes.

Client characteristics by prescriber type

In 2025, unit record data was available for 5 states and territories (excluding data for Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia). These data indicate that, compared to clients of public or private prescribers, clients of prescribers in correctional facilities were more likely to be younger and male:

• Correctional facilities treated clients aged under 30 at 3.6 times the rate of public prescribers and 5.0 times that of private prescribers. 
  • Correctional facilities treated clients aged 30–39 years at 2.1 times the rate of public prescribers and 2.6 times the rate of private prescribers.
  • Around 1 in 10 (9.0%) clients treated in correctional facilities were aged 50 years and over, compared with 2 in 5 clients treated by public prescribers (40%) and around half by private prescribers (49%) (Table S27).
• Correctional facilities treated about 14 males for every female client. Public and private prescriber types each treated about twice as many males as females (Table S28).