Dietitians, Health Workforce Annual Survey, 2010
Introduction
A health workforce survey was included with each invoice for the Annual Practising Certificates (APC) sent to dietitians in February 2010.
Of the 524 dietitians who were sent an invoice, 448 (85.5 percent) indicated that they were working actively as dietitians, 31 (5.9 percent) responded to the 2010 survey but did not report that they were actively working and 45 (8.6 percent) did not respond to the survey.
The 448 actively working dietitians represent 93.5 percent of survey respondents. It is not known if the APC holders who did not respond to the survey are working in this field.
The following statistics are based on the 448 active dietitians.
List of tables
Table 1: Age and gender of active dietitians, 2010 2
Table 2: Ethnicity of active dietitians, by gender, 2010 3
Table 3: Qualification country of active dietitians, by gender, 2010 4
Table 4: District Health Board of employer for active dietitians, by average hours worked, 2010 5
Table 5: Main employment setting of active dietitians, by gender, 2010 6
Table 6: Worktype by main employment setting for active dietitians, 2010 7
Table 7: Worktype for active dietitians, by gender, 2010 8
List of figures
Figure 1: Age of active dietitians, as a percentage, 2010 2
Figure 2: Ethnicity of active dietitians, by gender, as a percentage, 2010 3
Figure 3: Qualification country of active dietitians, by gender, as a percentage, 2010 4
Figure 4: District Health Board of employer for active dietitians, by average hours worked, 2010 6
Figure 5: Main employment setting of active dietitians, 2010 7
Figure 6: Worktype by gender, as a percentage, 2010 8
Figure 7: Active dietitians by year of qualification, 1964 to 2009 9
Survey results
Of those respondents with a reported gender, 96.4 percent were female, as illustrated in Table 1 and Figure 1. The median age of respondents was 40 years.
Table 1: Age and gender of active dietitians, 2010
Age group / Male / Female / Not reported / Total / Percentage20–24 / 0 / 16 / 0 / 16 / 3.6
25–29 / 3 / 85 / 0 / 88 / 19.6
30–34 / 4 / 52 / 1 / 57 / 12.7
35–39 / 6 / 49 / 3 / 58 / 12.9
40–44 / 1 / 40 / 2 / 43 / 9.6
45–49 / 0 / 44 / 1 / 45 / 10.0
50–54 / 2 / 53 / 1 / 56 / 12.5
55–59 / 0 / 49 / 0 / 49 / 10.9
60+ / 0 / 31 / 0 / 31 / 6.9
Not reported / 0 / 5 / 0 / 5 / 1.1
Total / 16 / 424 / 8 / 448 / 100.0
Figure 1: Age of active dietitians, as a percentage, 2010
Table 2: Ethnicity of active dietitians, by gender, 2010
Ethnicity / Male / Female / Not reported / TotalNZ European / 10 / 315 / 4 / 329
Other European – British & Irish / 1 / 24 / 2 / 27
Other European / 1 / 21 / 0 / 22
Chinese / 0 / 18 / 1 / 19
NZ Māori / 2 / 14 / 0 / 16
Other European – Australian / 0 / 7 / 0 / 7
South East Asian / 0 / 5 / 0 / 5
Indian / 0 / 4 / 0 / 4
Other Pacific / 0 / 4 / 0 / 4
Other Asian / 1 / 1 / 0 / 2
African / 1 / 1 / 0 / 2
Other / 0 / 8 / 1 / 9
Not reported / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2
Total / 16 / 424 / 8 / 448
The majority (329) of the active dietitians identified themselves as belonging to the New Zealand European ethnic group (see Table 2 and Figure 2). This trend is consistent with previous years.
Figure 2: Ethnicity of active dietitians, by gender, as a percentage, 2010
Table 3: Qualification country of active dietitians, by gender, 2010
New Zealand / 15 / 361 / 6 / 382
United Kingdom / 0 / 21 / 2 / 23
South Africa / 1 / 13 / 0 / 14
Australia / 0 / 10 / 0 / 10
United States of America / 0 / 6 / 0 / 6
Netherlands / 0 / 3 / 0 / 3
India / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2
Sweden / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1
Not reported / 0 / 7 / 0 / 7
Total / 16 / 424 / 8 / 448
Most (382) dietitians qualified in New Zealand. The next most common qualification countries were the United Kingdom and South Africa (Table 3 and Figure 3).
Figure 3: Qualification country of active dietitians, by gender, as a percentage, 2010
Table 4: District Health Board of employer for active dietitians, by average hours worked, 2010
DHB Description / Number / Average hours per weekNorthland / 11 / 39.1
Waitemata / 29 / 40.2
Auckland / 62 / 40.4
Counties-Manukau / 21 / 42.1
Waikato / 26 / 37.9
Lakes / 5 / 36.8
Bay of Plenty / 7 / 37.1
Tairawhiti / 3 / 37.3
Hawkes Bay / 7 / 38.6
Taranaki / 7 / 39.6
MidCentral / 12 / 40.1
Whanganui / 2 / 40.0
Capital & Coast / 31 / 39.2
Hutt Valley / 8 / 39.0
Wairarapa / 0 / -
Nelson Marlborough / 6 / 37.7
West Coast / 2 / 40.0
Canterbury / 45 / 38.1
South Canterbury / 5 / 37.2
Otago / 15 / 38.3
Southland / 4 / 38.0
Locum/Multiple Locations / 5 / 44.4
Not Reported / 1 / 40.0
Total full-time / 314 / 39.4
Part-time / 128 / 17.6
Hours not reported / 6 / -
Total / 448 / -
Table 4 and Figure 4 illustrate District Health Board (DHB) of employer, by average hours worked. Please note, because the number of active practitioners in some DHBs is very low, the average figure must be treated with caution.
Figure 4: District Health Board of employer for active dietitians, by average hours worked, 2010
Excluding DHBs with less than five respondents, the highest average hours worked per week was in the Counties-Manukau district (42.1 hours). The lowest was in the Bay of Plenty district (37.1 hours).
Table 5: Main employment setting of active dietitians, by gender, 2010
Employment setting / Male / Female / Unknown / TotalHospital & Health Service/DHB / 8 / 257 / 2 / 267
Private practice
– self employed / 1 / 42 / 2 / 45
– group practice / 0 / 5 / 0 / 5
Non-government organisation / 1 / 23 / 1 / 25
Commercial/ industrial organisation / 1 / 14 / 0 / 15
University/Polytechnic / 0 / 18 / 0 / 18
Government dept/ Crown agency / 2 / 11 / 0 / 13
Other / 0 / 11 / 0 / 11
Not reported / 3 / 43 / 3 / 49
Total / 16 / 424 / 8 / 448
Table 5 and Figure 5 show that the majority of active dietitians are employed by DHBs.
Figure 5: Main employment setting of active dietitians, 2010
Table 6: Worktype by main employment setting for active dietitians, 2010
Employment setting / Clinical (excluding community) / Community / Education / Food service management/ consultancy / General Management / Industry / Public health/ policy / Sports nutrition / Study/ research / Other / Not Reported / TotalHospital & Health Service/DHB / 195 / 57 / 3 / 16 / 25 / 0 / 17 / 0 / 5 / 7 / 4 / 329
Private practice
– self employed / 27 / 12 / 3 / 11 / 9 / 2 / 1 / 7 / 2 / 5 / 1 / 80
– group practice / 3 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 7
Non-government organisation / 2 / 5 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 13 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 29
Commercial/industrial organisation / 1 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 3 / 8 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 19
University/Polytechnic / 0 / 0 / 14 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 2 / 1 / 10 / 0 / 0 / 28
Government dept/Crown agency / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 0 / 10 / 1 / 2 / 1 / 0 / 20
Other / 1 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 12
Not reported / 15 / 16 / 1 / 6 / 4 / 4 / 5 / 3 / 2 / 2 / 9 / 67
Total / 246 / 98 / 23 / 41 / 46 / 15 / 52 / 14 / 21 / 19 / 16 / 591
Table 6 shows the main employment setting by worktype. Each dietitian can specify more than one worktype. This table shows that the 448 active dietitians reported 591 worktypes. On average, this is 1.3 worktypes per active dietitian.
The most common combination of worktype and employment setting was clinical work (excluding community) in a DHB.
Table 7: Worktype for active dietitians, by gender, 2010
Worktype / Male / Female / Not reported / TotalClinical (excluding community) / 8 / 233 / 5 / 246
Community / 2 / 96 / 0 / 98
Public health/policy / 4 / 48 / 0 / 52
General Management / 3 / 42 / 1 / 46
Food service management/consultancy / 0 / 39 / 2 / 41
Education / 0 / 23 / 0 / 23
Study/research / 2 / 19 / 0 / 21
Industry / 1 / 14 / 0 / 15
Sports nutrition / 1 / 13 / 0 / 14
Other / 0 / 15 / 4 / 19
Not Reported / 1 / 15 / 0 / 16
Total / 22 / 557 / 12 / 591
Table 7 and Figure 6 illustrate the worktypes of active dietitians. Clinical (excluding community) was the most common worktype.
Figure 6: Worktype by gender, as a percentage, 2010
Figure 7: Active dietitians by year of qualification, 1964 to 2009
Figure 7 shows the years active dietitians received their main qualification. The earliest year recorded was 1964 and the most recent 2009. The most common decade for dietitian-related qualifications was 2000 to 2009.
The Ministry of Health would like to thank all the health care professionals who completed the 2010 workforce questionnaire. This is an annual survey which all health care professionals are encouraged to complete. If you have any comments or require further survey results please contact:
Analytical Services
Regulation and Governance Directorate
Ministry of Health
PO Box 5013, Wellington 6145
Tel: (04) 816 2870
Fax: (04) 816 2898
Email:
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