Snapshot of Podiatry in Australia

NewsBot · Nov 2, 2011

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Press Release:
First national podiatry data released

The first ever national data on podiatry is now available with the release of Podiatry Board of Australia information in the AHPRA and National Boards’ annual report

Most of Australia’s podiatrists are based in Victoria and are aged under 54 years, according to data now published in the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and National Boards’ annual report.

The release of the 2010-11 annual report gives an essential, first-ever insight into Australia’s 530,115 health practitioners across 10 professions regulated under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme). One in 44 Australians is a registered health practitioner.

As well as profiling the professions and practitioners, the report provides the first national data on notifications (complaints) involving health practitioners and the actions taken by national boards to protect public safety.

Chair of the Podiatry Board of Australia, Mr Jason Warnock, said the 2010-11 annual report demonstrated transparent and accountable reporting by AHPRA and the national board about their work in regulating the profession and protecting the public.

“The introduction of the National Scheme on 1 July 2010 represents an unparalleled reform of health practitioner regulation. This annual report provides comprehensive data about the first year of operation of the national scheme, across all areas of operation of AHPRA and the national boards,” Mr Warnock said.

”There is clear evidence that the national scheme is sound, robust and a great asset for the Australian community,” he said.

Important information about the podiatry profession published in the report includes:
– There were 3,461 podiatrists registered to practise in Australia on 30 June 2011
– About 27% of podiatrists are based in New South Wales (NSW) and 30% are based in Victoria
– There are 20 podiatrists with specialist registration as a podiatric surgeon There are 1,173 students of podiatry on the student register, which includes nearly 99,000 registered students across the 10 professions
– The largest group (670 or 19%) of podiatrists are aged between 25 and 29 years, and 72% are aged under 54 years
– Nearly 1,500 practitioners who have disclosed their gender to AHPRA are female and just more than 1,000 are male. Before the National Scheme many State and Territory boards did not collect data on the sex of registrants and there were nearly 1,000 podiatrists who have not yet provided this information
– There are 42 podiatrists in Australia whose registration is endorsed for scheduled medicines, most of these (26) in Western Australia
– There were 55 notifications lodged about registered podiatrists during the year (not including concerns about advertising); 1.4% of all registered podiatrists have been the subject of a notification (Table 14)
– The Podiatry Board of Australia and the Podiatry Council in NSW* took immediate action on the registration of five practitioners during the year; as a result imposing conditions on the registration of two practitioners, accepting an undertaking from one practitioner and suspending the registration of two practitioners

The annual report is an important source of information about the Board’s activities in 2010-11. Achievements for the Podiatry Board of Australia during the year included; a focus on promoting the profession’s understanding of the requirements of the National Scheme and awareness of the Board’s continuing professional development, recency of practice, professional indemnity insurance, English language skills and criminal history registration standards; working towards national consistency in the list of scheduled medicines in each jurisdiction; consultation on the Board’s review of the guidelines for endorsement for scheduled medicines, for podiatrists with blood borne infections and on clinical records; and working constructively with its stakeholders, including the Australia and New Zealand Podiatry Accreditation Council.

Mr Warnock encouraged podiatry practitioners, clients / patients, employers, educators and the Australian community to read the 2010-11 annual report, published at www.ahpra.gov.au under Legislation and publications > AHPRA publications.
Click to expand...

Link to report

andersonkchan · Nov 3, 2011

That's surprising!
I thought there would be more female pods!

NewsBot · Nov 8, 2011

Here is the APodC press release in response to the above report:

SNAPSHOT OF PODIATRY IN AUSTRALIA

The APodC has welcomed the first ever national data on podiatry, following the release of Podiatry Board of Australia information in the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and National Boards’ 2010-2011 annual report.

The data shows that on June 30, 2011, there were 3,461 podiatrists registered to practise in Australia.

Table: Distribution of podiatrists throughout Australia
State/Territory Number of podiatrists Proportion of the profession(%)
VIC 1084 31.3
NSW 919 26.6
QLD 585 16.9
WA 347 10.0
SA 346 10.0
TAS 78 2.3
ACT 42 1.2
NT 13 0.38

Not surprisingly, 64.3% of podiatrists are aged between 25 and 44 years. At one end of the spectrum, we have 279 podiatrists aged between 20 and 24, and 49 who are over 80.

The data also shows that podiatry is a popular profession for women. 57% of podiatrists are female. Other health professionals like optometrists, osteopaths, dentists and chiropractors are more likely to be male.

There are 20 podiatric surgeons throughout the country and 42 podiatrists have registration which is endorsed for scheduled medicines.

From the perspective of the Australasian Podiatry Council and Member Associations, membership for the profession ranges from just over 1 in 3 to 4 in 5 registered podiatrists across the states.
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Cameron · Nov 9, 2011

netizens

When compared to the Australian Bureau of Statistic for 2010 for People aged 65 years and over, the following table emerges.

Podiatrist per head of elderly population

Victoria (1 per 701)
South Australia (1 per 742)
West Australia (1 per 797)
ACT (1 per 885)
Northern Territories (1 per 976)
Queensland (1 per 1004)
Tasmania (1 per 1014)
New South Wales (1 per 1109)

Might be interesting to do a similar comparison to diabetic populations?

Not sure if there is a gold standard 'podiatrist per head of popluation' but it is not a bad guage to measure different countries.

What say you?

toeslayer

Snapshot of Podiatry in Australia

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Snapshot of Podiatry in Australia

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

andersonkchan Active Member

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

Cameron Well-Known Member

Podiatry Clinic for Sale in Michigan

Podiatry Position - Nova Scotia, Canada

Podiatry health

Podiatry Clinic for Sale - West Sussex

Podiatry Job Opportunity South Lincolnshire

Podiatry / Chiropody Job In Ottawa's busiest clinic

MOBILE PODIATRY BUSINESS FOR SALE - ADELAIDE SA

Share This Page

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