Primary health care
Page highlights:
- MedicineInsight is a database managed by NPS MedicineWise containing de-identified electronic health records from over 700 Australian general practices.
- There were 14.3 million clinical encounters with General Practitioners recorded in the MedicineInsight database in 2020–21. Patients with type 2 diabetes ever recorded accounted for 12% of encounters despite representing 5.6% of the total MedicineInsight patients.
Primary health care:
- is the entry level to the health system and, as such, is usually a person’s first encounter with the health system.
- includes a broad range of activities and services, from health promotion and prevention to treatment and management of acute and chronic conditions.
- can refer to a broad range of healthcare services including General Practitioners (GPs), midwives, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health including dietitians, physiotherapists, optometrists and podiatrists.
There were 14.3 million clinical encounters with GPs recorded in the MedicineInsight database in 2020–21. Patients with type 2 diabetes ever recorded accounted for 12% of encounters despite representing 5.6% of the total MedicineInsight patients.
According to the 2020–21 MedicineInsight General Practice Insights report (NPS MedicineWise, 2022):
- Patients with type 2 diabetes ever recorded accounted for 5.6% of total MedicineInsight patients.
- Patients with type 1 diabetes ever recorded accounted for 0.5% of total MedicineInsight patients.
- Patients with gestational diabetes ever recorded accounted for 0.7% of total MedicineInsight patients.
Of the 14.3 million clinical encounters with GPs recorded in the 2020–20 report, patients with type 2 diabetes ever recorded accounted for 11.8% of encounters. Patients with type 1 diabetes ever recorded represented only 0.9% of clinical encounters, and patients with gestational diabetes ever recorded represented only 0.8% of encounters.
Patients with type 2 diabetes had an age- and sex-adjusted average of 9.6 encounters per person, per year. Patients with recorded type 1 diabetes had a slightly lower rate of 8.7 encounters per person per year. There was no published average for patients with gestational diabetes recorded.
References
NPS MedicineWise (2022) MedicineInsight General Practice Insights Report July 2019–June 2020, Sydney: NPS MedicineWise.