Volume 185 - Issue 3
More doctors, but not enough: Australian medical workforce supply 2001–2012
Authors: Catherine M Joyce, John J McNeil and Johannes U Stoelwinder
Med J Aust 2006; 185 (3): 182. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00521.x
Published online: 7 August 2006
Published online: 7 August 2006
In reply: Our reference to a boom in medical workforce supply during the 1970s was based on the marked increase in medical workforce entries in that decade. The number of Australian medical graduates rose from 851 in 1970 to 1278 in 1980.1,2 In contrast — and as a result of a shift to a policy of constraint — graduate numbers remained quite static during the 1980s and 1990s, at around 1200–1300 per year (Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training custom datasets RFI 03-312, RFI 04-360, 2004).
Although the policy shift in the 1980s was based on a perception of surplus, judgements about workforce adequacy were contentious at that time and remain so. We did not intend to imply necessarily that there was a surplus in the medical workforce (or the general practice workforce specifically) during the 1970s. Rather, our historical reference was intended to show the parallels with the large influx that will result from current expansion in medical school intakes, and to highlight the cyclic nature of both medical workforce policy and perceptions of adequacy. We agree with Arnold’s implication that policies which attempt simply to adjust gross supply (up or down) are insufficient to ensure an adequate medical workforce.
References
- Karmel P (Chairman). Report of the Committee on Medical Schools to the Australian Universities Commission. Expansion of medical education. (Parliamentary Paper No. 110.) Canberra: AGPS, 1973.<eMJA full text>
- Doherty RL (Chairman). Committee of Inquiry into Medical Education and the Medical Workforce. Australian medical education and workforce into the 21st century. Canberra: AGPS, 1988. 0_i1091776