Table 1 Sources of geographic GP datasets in Australia
Dataset source | Geographic resolution | Coverage | Pros | Cons | Cost/Free | Source of information | Year of data used in analyses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Surveys: Australian Health and Welfare (AIHW) Medical Workforce Survey | SLA (Statistical Local Area). SLA level data are available through special request only and at cost. | FTE GPs GP Headcounts | Extensive yearly survey of medical workforce. Sampling frame is all registered physicians and approximately 58,000 physicians answered the survey in 2007. | In SLA level data Estimates are missing/suppressed, either from non-response or privacy concerns from a small number of responses from large sections of rural Australia. | Cost | Survey (70% response rate in 2007) | 2007 |
Primary Health Care Research and Information Service (PHCRIS) Annual Survey of Divisions (ASD) | DGP (Divisions of General Practice) | FWE GPs GP Headcounts | The survey had a 100% response rate from the 111 DGPs it was sent to in 2010. | DGPs occupy large geographies, thus requiring additional datasets to analyze within DGP variation. | Free | Survey (100% response rate from divisions in 2010). GP FWE Data is from DoHA | 2010 |
Mailing List: Australasian Medical Publishing Company (AMPCo) “doctor Lists” | Individual points/ addresses/coordinates | Headcounts Full time or Part time | Excellent geographic resolution | Workloads of part time GPs are not known | Cost | Data acquisition method is not published. | 2010 |
Indirectly Derived: DoHA/Social Atlas of Australia from Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) | SLA | Number of services provided by GPs | Data provided by data custodian, thus valid and of good quality. | FWE has to be indirectly derived by diving the total number of services provided with the average number of services provided in a given year. | Free | Data obtained by PHIDU from DoHA | 2009 |