1995
Australian Medical Labour Workforce statistics
collated from state and territory registers of medical practitioners
by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW):

Numbers:

• In 1995 there were 1,068 CMOs, HMOs and other salaried hospital doctors in clinical practice within Australia

Age groupings:

• 36.4% were younger than 35 years of age;
• 33.5% were aged 35–44 years;
• 17.0% were aged 45–54 years; and
• remaining 13.0% were 55 years and over.

Gender distribution:

• 698 (65.3%) were male and 370 (34.7%) were female.
• varied across States and Territories, from a high of 41.9% female in Victoria to a low of 22.2% female in Tasmania.

Place of work:

• 917 (85.8%) were employed in the public sector.

Hours of work:

• On average, CMOs, HMOs and other salaried hospital doctors worked a total of 46.5 hours per week.

• 43.6% worked 50 or more hours per week

• 3.7% worked 80 or more hours per week.

• Males worked an average of 50.2 hours per week compared with 39.3 hours for females.

• Average hours worked also varied across States and Territories, from a low of 41.3 hours per week in Victoria to a high of 51.9 hours per week in the Northern Territory.

• Average hours worked per week generally increased with the remoteness of the geographic region. The average was 52.0 hours per week in remote areas and 53.9 hours in other rural areas compared with 46.2 hours in major urban areas.

• 19.3% worked less than 35 hours per week
• 37.1% worked 35–49 hours per week
• 32.9% worked 50–64 hours per week
• 10.7% worked 65 hours or more per week.

Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Training, etc:

• 12.6% held a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Training in 1995
• 6.3% were trainees of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

Right to practice privately:

• 39.1% had the right to practise privately in 1995.
• This proportion varied significantly across States and Territories, from a high of 71.4% in Tasmania to a low of 11.8% in the Northern Territory.

Country of initial Qualification:

• 78.1% obtained their initial qualification in Australia,
• 9.7% from the United Kingdom or Ireland,
• 5.3% from Asian countries,
• 2.1% from New Zealand
• 4.7% from other countries.

in remote areas:

• 63.0% obtained their initial qualification in Australia,
• 22.2% from the United Kingdom or Ireland,
• 14.8% from Asian countries.

Citizenship or Permanent Residency:

• 96.9% were Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia in 1995.
• Of those who were not citizens or permanent residents, 85.0% obtained their initial qualification in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

1996
Australian Medical Labour Workforce statistics
collated from state and territory registers of medical practitioners
by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW):

Numbers:

• In 1996 there were 1,093 CMOs, HMOs and other salaried hospital doctors in clinical practice within Australia

• this is equivalent to 2.4% of total clinician workforce (approx 45,390) in Australia.

Place of work:

• 85.2% CMOs, HMOs and other salaried hospital doctors were employed in the public sector.

Prevalence:

• ranged from 14.6 per 100,000 population in the Australian Capital Territory and 13.2 in the Northern Territory to 2.4 in Victoria.

Age distribution

• 41.8% were younger than 35 years,
• 29.5% were 35–44 years,
• 15.6% were 45–54 years, and
• 13.1% were older than 55 years.

Hours worked

• 11.4% of male and 37.3% of female worked less than 35 hours per week.
• 12.1% of male and 9.6% of female CMOs and HMOs worked 65 hours or more per week.
• 4.0% of male and 4.4% of female CMOs and HMOs worked 80 hours or more per week.

AIHW included the following statement with its commentary on 1996 medical workforce data:

Data monitoring of CMOs, HMOs and other salaried hospital doctors has become particularly important for three current workforce issues concerning hospital non-specialists (which also includes Interns & RMOs):

1. shortages of hospital non-specialists:
2. the management of workforce change away from a culture of excessive working hours;
3. the change in workforce numbers arising from restrictions introduced by the Commonwealth Government in 1996 to access to rendering of Medicare services for both new hospital non-specialists and overseas medical graduates entering Australia for temporary or permanent employment. Under these restrictions, only Australian doctors accepted into a recognised general practice or specialist training program, and overseas graduates with a recognised postgraduate medical qualification, are eligible to apply to the Health Insurance Commission for recognition to bill for Medicare services. The effect of these restrictions was expected to make continued hospital employment more attractive as a career path for some Australian graduates, and the principal avenue of employment for most temporary resident overseas graduates.

The Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council has acknowledged the need for a detailed workforce planning analysis of the hospital non-specialist workforce, and the AIHW will be assisting the Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee to conduct this analysis in 1998–99.

The 1996 data highlight characteristics of the workforce immediately before the changes in Medicare provider access and the safe working hours campaign for junior hospital doctors which was initiated by the Australian Medical Association. Given a significantly lower response to the AIHW labour force survey by doctors younger than 35 years, the workforce estimates for hospital non-specialists and specialists-in-training are subject to significantly greater estimation error than for other sectors of the medical workforce and should be interpreted with care.