Specialist adult physicians in the Top End of the Northern Territory: an analysis of their number and roles

The optimal way of delivering specialist services to rural and remote Australia, and particularly to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, is a matter of keen debate at present, and is being considered by the Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee. This paper contributes to that debate by considering one specialist medical group, namely adult physicians, and discusses both their role and optimal number in the Top End of the Northern Territory, in light of the general workforce literature and recent changes to the organisation of physician services in the Northern Territory. Models of specialist service delivery need to be explicit, and organisational methods transparent, if the service is to be equitable, flexible and accountable to primary care practitioners.