General practice activity in Australia 1998-99

Provides the results of the first year of the BEACH program conducted between April 1998 and March 1999. It relies on a sample of 98,400 GP-patient encounter records from a random sample of 984 GPs to describe aspects of general practice in Australia: the characteristics of the GPs; the types of services provided; the characteristics of the patients who attend general practitioners; the reasons for their attendance; the problems managed at these consultations; and the management techniques adopted by the GPs. A comparison of results with those of an earlier national study conducted in 1990-91 provides some measure of changes that have occurred over the last eight years.