GP services in Australia: presentation profiles during usual practice hours and after-hours periods

After-hours general practitioner (GP) services can reduce emergency department demand, which is currently increasing in Australia. Understanding GP after-hours care may assist in service planning. From April 2014 to March 2015, 986 GPs recorded 38275 consultations with start and finish times in the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) study, a national, cross-sectional, representative study of GP activity. GP and patient characteristics and the content of encounters in usual-hours and after-hours were compared. Significantly more after-hours than usual-hours encounters were with: GPs aged 60+ years; in metropolitan practices; and practices with 10+ GPs. Patients seen after-hours were more often: male; aged 15-64 years; new to practice; and less likely to hold a Commonwealth Concession Card. They were more likely to be prescribed antibiotics and less likely to: have chronic problems managed; be referred; receive psycholeptic or psychoanaleptic prescription; and undergo a procedure. Throat symptoms, fever and injury were more common reasons for encounter, while infections and injury were more frequently managed problems after-hours. The patient mix, GP characteristics, problems managed and management actions in after-hours care differ from those in usual-hours care in Australia. This greater understanding of after-hours care is the first step to informed resource allocation to improve the delivery of after-hours primary care.