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Division and SBO Key Characteristics

Now updated with data from the 2006-2007 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 2006-07 Annual Survey of Divisions (ASD).

PHC RIS has also recently composed a spreadsheet of SBO Key Characteristics, based on the Annual Survey of Divisions (ASD) for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 periods.

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.

^ADivisions 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 53 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.

^BThis information refers to preliminary rebased Estimated Resident Population (ERP) data, as at 30 June, 2006. 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 revised ABS data at Postal Area level. Population figures for Divisions are then calculated using annually updated ‘allocation of postcodes to Division boundaries’ prepared by the Department of Health and Ageing. No data was available for the 2006-07 period, and therefore boundary allocations for the 2005-06 period have been used. Due to missing values, this method has resulted in a 0.1% difference (n=19 891) between published ABS population ERP figures (20,701,488) and those available at a Division level (20,681,597).

^CPreliminary rebased ERP data, as at 30 June 2006 was used to calculate the Australian Indigenous population. Refer to note B regarding issues with Division boundary allocations. This has also resulted in a minor discrepancy between the totals reported here and in ABS publications.

^DThis information was calculated using 2006 rebased ERP population data from the ABS (see note B).

^EThis information was downloaded from the Department of Health and Ageing website showing 2005-06 data (updated on 30 March 2007). Please note data are consistent with new, more accurate, methods of calculations introduced for the 2004-05 data. Fulltime Workload Equivalence (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 a definition of FTE and FWE please see: www.phcris.org.au/fastfacts/index.php.

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