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Division and SBO Key Characteristics

Now updated with data from the 2007-2008 Annual Survey of Divisions!

A spreadsheet of Division Key Characteristics has been provided on the PHC RIS website since 2002-03, and has recently been updated with information collected as part of the 2007-08 Annual Survey of Divisions (ASD).

Since 2005-06, PHC RIS has also composed a spreadsheet of SBO Key Characteristics, based on the Annual Survey of Divisions (ASD) data. This has recently been updated with data from the 2007-08 ASD.

The spreadsheet contains a quick snapshot showing Division/SBO:

• Eligibility for More Allied Health Care (MAHS) funding ^A
• Population ^B
• Indigenous population ^C
• Population aged over 65 years ^D
• Number of General Practices (and number of solo practices)
• Estimated number of practising GPs (and female GPs)
• Number of fulltime workload equivalent (FWE) GPs ^E
• Ratio of GP numbers to population ^B
• Ratio of FWE GP to population ^BE

For a quick way to identify which Divisions of General Practice have similar characteristics see the Division Benchmarking Tool

Note that number of general practices and GPs are collected from Divisions as part of the ASD. Other data sources and additional information are included in the footnotes.

^N/A - Not available. Some data are unavailable for Barrier (241), Inner Eastern Melbourne (303), and Central Australian (802) due to Division mergers or amalgamations effective on 30 June 2008. Specifically, Barrier (241) merged with Riverina (228); Inner Eastern Melbourne (303) with Whitehorse (310) to become Melbourne East; and Central Australian (802) with Top End (801), joining the NT SBO. ASD data were provided for each of these Divisions but population and workforce data were only available in the amalgamated Divisions.

^A Divisions are eligible to receive More Allied Health Services (MAHS) funding if 5% or more of their total population is located within the Rural, Remote, Metropolitan Areas (RRMAS) categories 4-7. There are 66 MAHS-eligible Divisions; these Divisions are sometimes classified as rural, with the remaining 51 Divisions classified as urban. More information about RRMA classifications can be found on the Department of Health and Ageing website at www.health.gov.au.

^B This information refers to revised Estimated Resident Population (ERP) data, as at 30 June 2007. The ERP is the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) official estimate of the population based on normal place of residence. For more information about the ERP, see the ABS website at www.abs.gov.au. Divisional ERP were calculated using ABS data at Postal Area level and generated by the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) and available at www.publichealth.gov.au.

^C Data from the 2006 Census (30 June 2006) were used to calculate the Australian Indigenous population. Due to small cell sizes for some Postal Areas (see method in Note B), some data are missing to maintain confidentiality. This has resulted in a minor discrepancy (less than 0.01%) between the total reported here (n=453,428) and the total in ABS publications/PHIDU spreadsheets (n=455,016). Data were generated by PHIDU (www.publichealth.gov.au).

^D This information was calculated using 2007 revised ERP population data from the ABS (see Note B).

^E Data for the 2007-08 period is available on the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing website. Please note data reflect Division boundaries based on 2006 ABS Collection Districts as at 1st July 2008. FWE is reported in place of Fulltime Equivalence (FTE) as the former is considered to be a more accurate measure (and is preferred by Department of Health and Ageing). For an definition of FTE and FWE please see: www.phcris.org.au/fastfacts/.

^F Liverpool Division (210) and Sydney South-West GP Network (211) dissolved at the end of the 2007-08 financial year. Fairfield Liverpool Interim General Practice Support (210) was able to provide some data on selected questions in the 2007-08 ASD.

^G For items where one or more Divisions has reported "Unknown", the total figure shown is likely to be an underestimate of the true figure.