4. Accessibility of health care

From United Kingdom Wiki

What is access to health care?

Definition of access to care presented by Suresh & Bhui (2006):

"Access to care is the ability to have health needs met through existing channels or care pathways designed specifically to meet those needs. Such care pathways may be established without reference to the patterns of illness, or variations in the determinants of healthcare needs, across ethnic groups. This may result in variations in access to established conventional interventions, compounding unmet need with prolonged disability, or denying a specific subgroup access to effective, evidence-based interventions." (Suresh & Bhui, 2006, p. 413)

A very useful study has been carried out at the University of Leeds by Mary Dixon-Woods and her colleagues.
Dixon-Woods, M. et al. (2005) Vulnerable groups and access to health care: a critical interpretive review. Report for the National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R & D (NCCSDO).
Download full report (1.5Mb)
Download executive summary.
This research, based on hundreds of published studies, discusses in depth the different aspects of "accessibility" and the problems migrants and ethnic minorities have in common with some other vulnerable groups. Appendix 4 (pp. 429-446) lists a large number of UK studies on minority ethnic groups. This will probably be the definitive work on accessibility for some time to come [DI].

Systematic review of ethnicity and health service access for London.

Report commissioned by the London Regional Office of the NHS Executive (2001). Project Team: Dr Mark Atkinson, Michael Clark, Diane Clay, Dr Mark Johnson, Dr David Owen, Professor Ala Szczepura.

[edit]