General practice activity in Australia 2001-02

This publication gives results of the fourth year of the BEACH program, April 2001 to March 2002. Data reported by 983 general practitioners on 98,300 GP-patient encounters are used to describe aspects of general practice in Australia: the general practitioners and their patients; the problems managed and the treatments provided. Information is also reported on body weight to height ratio, smoking status and alcohol use of a sub sample of patients. An overview of almost 1,000 encounters with Indigenous patients provides an indication of the role of GPs in provision of care to these people. Changes in characteristics of GPs, their patients and the encounters are also report for the period April 1998 to March 2002.