The GP Catchments were developed by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care as custom aggregations of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2021 Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1), Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3), and Urban Centre and Locality (UCL) geographies.
GP Catchments were updated in the December 2023 release. First approved for use in 2019, GP catchments were formed by aggregating sub-catchments, taking into account a number of factors including:
- patient flows using Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) patient and provider data
- population demographics, such as population size and distribution
- GP workforce, such as location and number of GPs
- GP infrastructure, such as location and number of practices
- accessibility, such as catchment size, travel distance and road networks
- topography, such as mountain ranges, national parks, water bodies and islands
- recognition of other boundaries, such as state and territory borders and local government areas
Originally published using a five-year block of Medicare data (FY2010–15) and the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), to ensure the boundaries remain current and reflective of population changes, an update has now been undertaken.
The new GP Catchments (2023) align catchment boundaries with the ASGS for 2021, along with an updated five-year block of Medicare data (CY2017–21).
