Health Service Managers in Australia Part 1: service, geographical and category distribution

Abstract

This article is the first of a four-part series in which the authors provide analyses on the composition and characteristics of health service managers in Australia of relevance to policy and decision-making in dealing with these issues. This first article provides analyses on the specific characteristics of service, geographical and category distribution in both the public and private sectors. It gives an estimated number of managers in health services and aged care residential services in relation to the population they serve, as well as their relationship to people employed. It compares these ratios to those for all industries in Australia. The analyses also document and review managers by category and specialisation and compare their composition to the average for all industries. Substantial differences in composition between hospital, medical and other services, aged care residential services and the average for all industries arise from the analyses. Disparities in ratios to population and composition were also found among the various states and territories. The article also discusses the wide range of ratios of health service managers to population in some countries and their lack of consistency. The discussion of findings includes an agenda for future research.