Australian Specialist Workforce Shortage Areas by Medical Specialty

District of Workforce Shortage data classifies Australian geographical regions with insufficient non-GP specialist doctors. The dataset is produced by the Department of Health's Rural Distribution Section and was last updated in November 2023. It covers eight key medical specialties, including Anaesthetics and Psychiatry, across SA3 regions.

Use Cases

• Map workforce shortage areas for Psychiatry using SA3 region geospatial boundaries.
• Analyze the correlation between remoteness (ASGS-RA 3-5) and automatic DWS classification for specialties like General Surgery.
• Compare specialist-to-population ratios derived from Medicare billing data across different SA3 regions for Cardiology.

Strengths

• Geospatial data covers all SA3 geographical regions of Australia.
• Explicitly defines eight distributed medical specialties, including Anaesthetics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column details, and sample data are unavailable for review.
• The dataset's primary use is for a specific government program, which may limit generalizability for other analyses.
• Data is updated annually; the November 2023 snapshot may not reflect real-time status changes.

Provenance

Source

Rural Distribution Section, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Collection Method

Classification uses population and Medicare billing data to calculate specialist-to-population ratios.

Time Range

Snapshot as of November 2023.

Freshness

Annual update; snapshot from November 2023.

Geography

Australia, at the SA3 geographical region level.