Spatial distribution of the supply of the clinical health workforce 2014: Relationship to the distribution of the Indigenous population v1.0

This report used a new measure developed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - the Geographically-adjusted Index of Relative Supply (GIRS) - to examine the geographic supply of the clinical health workforce in seven key professions, with particular relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) peoples. The professions are general practitioners, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists, psychologists and optometrists. The GIRS was developed to overcome limitations in using relatively simple provider-to-population ratios to compare areas with vastly different geographic characteristics. Areas with lower GIRS scores are more likely to face challenges in workforce supply than those with higher GIRS scores. The GIRS scores were compared with the distribution of the Indigenous population to assess the extent to which Indigenous people live in areas with lower relative levels of workforce supply.

Main sections:

- Summary

- Methods

- General practitioners

- Nurses

- Midwives

- Pharmacists

- Dentists

- Psychologists

- Optometrists

- Conclusion