Results
General practices
Table 1 summarises the number of accredited general practices in Australia and for 2019 – the most recent year where the Department of Health and Aged Care provided the total number of general practices to the Productivity Commission.
There has been a steady increase in the number of accredited general practices from 2010, with a dip in accreditation numbers occurring in 2021. The 2021 dip was caused by maintenance to accreditation as a result of COVID-19 pandemic risk control measures. As of 2022, there are 7219 accredited general practices in Australia (719 more, or an 11% increase, in accredited practice numbers from the previous year).
In 2022, the number of accredited practices was the highest on record in all states and territories except for the Northern Territory (in which accredited practices have dipped slightly each year since 2020).
The proportion of accredited practices against the total number of practices is not available in the RoGS data for 2022.
Figure 1. Number of accredited general practices, 2010–2022
Source: Based on Productivity Commission data, Report on government services 2023, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).6
Accreditation agencies
Table 2 provides a summary of the proportional market share of the two accreditation agencies, AGPAL and QPA, since 2010.
In 2022, the market share between these agencies was split approximately two thirds AGPAL (65%) and one third QPA (35%), which is reasonably consistent with the period 2013–2020.
Figure 2. Number of accredited practices, by agency, 2010–2022
AGPAL, Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited; QPA, Quality Practice Accreditation.
Source: Based on Productivity Commission data, Report on government services 2023, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).6
Figure 3. Proportion of market share between accreditation agencies, 2010–2022
AGPAL, Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited; QPA, Quality Practice Accreditation.
Source: Based on Productivity Commission data, Report on government services 2023, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).6