17 June 2008

THE number of GPs in Australia has increased over the past 20 years in per capita terms, with the number of specialists having almost doubled, new figures show.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said that between 1986 and 2006, the number of GPs per 100,000 people increased from 152.6 to 178.6, while the number of specialists increased from 57.7 to 92.

The rate of GPs per person in major cities (204.9 per 100,000) is more than double the rate in remote areas.

The number of dentists per person has also increased, rising from 40.5 to 45.7.
But the nursing ranks have taken a hit.

While having increased their numbers in the past 10 years, there are less nurses now than there was 20 years ago, the figures show.

The number of nurses per 100,000 people fell between 1986 and 1996 from 1,113.7 to 1,048.7, but rebounded in the following decade to be at 1,106.9 in 2006.