General practice activity in Australia 2002-03

This publication reports the results of the fifth year of the BEACH program, April 2002 to March 2003. Data reported by 1,008 general practitioners on 100,800 GP-patient encounters are used to describe aspects of general practice in Australia: the general practitioners and their patients; the problems managed and the treatment provided. Information is also reported on body weight to height ratio, smoking status and alcohol use of a subsample of patients.For the period April 1998-March 2003, an overview of more than 5,000 encounters with Indigenous people provides an indication of the role of GPs in the provision of care to these people. Changes in relative rates of selected problems and management techniques are also investigated over this period. Data for each of the five years of BEACH are summarised in the appendix to this report.