A Decade of Australian General Practice Activity 2002–03 to 2011–12

This book, by Janice Charles, Graeme C. Miller, Helena Britt and others at the University of Sydney, presents ten years of data from the BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health) program, and reports changes that have occurred over the decade 2002–03 to 2011–12, in the characteristics of GPs and the patients they see, the problems they manage and the treatments they provide. A companion report, General practice activity in Australia 2011–12, describes the 2011–12 annual results in more detail. BEACH is a continuous cross-sectional national study that began in April 1998.

Every year each of about 1,000 randomly selected GPs records details of 100 consecutive encounters on structured paper recording forms, and provides information about themselves and their practice. The database now holds data for 1.38 million records from 13,815 participating GPs.    (APO 27th November 2012)