More doctors and nurses in 2005, but GP supply down

Medical practitioner and nurse numbers in Australia rose by 13% and 7% respectively between 2001 and 2005, according to estimates released in two new reports by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The Medical labour force 2005 report shows an estimated 60,252 medical practitioners employed in medicine in Australia in 2005. But because medical practitioners, on average, reduced their working hours over the period (from 45.4 to 43.7 hours per week), the increase in overall supply was only around 4%, measured as full-time equivalent (FTE) medical practitioners per 100,000 population.

The Nursing and midwifery labour force 2005 report estimates that there were 244,360 nurses employed in Australia in 2005. There were 198,315 employed registered nurses (a rise of 8.2% since 2001) and 46,044 employed enrolled nurses (a rise of 2.3% since 2001).

Enrolled nurses usually work with registered nurses, undertaking less complex nursing tasks than registered nurses. The average hours per week worked by nurses, unlike medical practitioners, increased over the five years to 2005, from 30.7 hours in 2001 to 33.0 hours in 2005.

This rise in the average number of hours worked by nurses, coupled with the increase in nurse numbers, resulted in the nursing supply rising by 10% from 2001 to 2005.

The nursing workforce is ageing, with the average age of employed nurses in 2005 being around 45 years compared with just over 42 years in 2001. In 2005 over one-third of all nurses were aged 50 years or over, compared with around one-quarter in 2001.