Nursing and Aboriginal health worker services
Growth in services provided by nursing and Aboriginal health workers across all 6 years
The Nursing and Aboriginal health worker service group comprises diverse Medicare-subsidised services provided by a nurse practitioner, practice nurse, midwife or Aboriginal health worker.
In the last 6 years, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of people who received a Medicare-subsidised service provided by a nurse practitioner, practice nurse, midwife or Aboriginal health worker—from 3.1% of Australians (725,000 people) in 2013–14 to 7.1% (1.8 million people) in 2018–19.
This increase was observed across all PHN areas, with the Northern Territory PHN area consistently having the highest percentage of people receiving these services, growing from 6.7% in 2013–14 to 15% in 2018–19 (Figure 10).
Figure 10: Percentage of people who had a Medicare-subsidised service provided by a nurse practitioner, practice nurse, midwife or Aboriginal health worker, by PHN area, 2013–14 and 2018–19
Chart: AIHW. Sources: AIHW analysis of Department of Health, MBS claims data; ABS ERP.