The RACGP’s annual report provides fresh insights about the state of our GPs and the road ahead.
RACGP’s 2021 ‘General Practice: Health of the Nation report’ provides insights about the experience of more than 13000 RACGP Fellows from across Australia, who took part in the survey conducted as part of this report. The report, which also brings together data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Medicare, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), among other official sources, reveals new trends among general practice and identifies some of the pressing issues affecting GPs.
The report provides new insights about:
- treatment of multimorbidities in general practice
- the increasing mental health burden on general practice
- restrictions to GP involvement in aged care
- barriers to the use of video telehealth services
- the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Key findings
The report also revealed key trends among GPs, including how much they work, when they are planning to retire, how many patients they see each week, and what are some of the most common ailments they treat. Some key findings are:
- About 18% of GPs plan to retire within five years
- More males than female GPs report working 40 or more hours per week
- GPs see, on average, 97 patients each week and spend about 18 minutes with each patient
- The most common ailments treated by GPs include psychological, musculoskeletal, respiratory, endocrine/metabolic and women’s health.
Regarding COVID-19 and its influence in general practice, the report found that vaccination was a dominant topic. For example, according to the report, the most common challenges GPs face from the pandemic are:
- Managing patient expectations about COVID-19 vaccinations
- Finding a financially viable way to provide COVID-19 vaccinations.
The report also found that half of the GPs interviewed reported at least one negative impact to their well-being because of COVID-19.
Other topics covered in the report involve the management of multimorbidity in general practice, patient access, telehealth, aged care, government funding, billing and patient out-of-pocket costs, job satisfaction, practice ownership, and training.
To read the report, head to this RACGP website.