Abstract
Accessible primary healthcare is important to national healthcare in general and for older persons in particular, in societies where the population is ageing rapidly, as in Singapore. However, although much policy and research efforts have been put into this area, we hardly find any spatial perspective to assess the accessibility of these primary healthcare services. This paper analyzes the geographical accessibility of one major healthcare service in Singapore, namely, General Practitioners (GPs) services under the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) for older persons. A Python script was developed to filter the website data of the Housing Development Board (HDB) of Singapore. The data derived was comprehensively analyzed by an Enhanced 2-Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) method based on a Gaussian distance-decay function and the GIS technique. This enabled the identification of areas with relatively weak geographical accessibility of CHAS-GPs. The findings are discussed along with suggestions for health practitioners, service planners and policy makers. Despite its initial nature, this study has demonstrated the value of innovative approaches in data collection and processing for the elderly-related studies, and contributed to the field of healthcare services optimization and possibly to other human services.
Highlights
It is widely recognized that primary healthcare services are critical to national healthcare and play a vital role in support of elderly population [1,2,3]
Their study reflects more the perception of elderly subjects rather than objective effort to investigate the geographical accessibility of healthcare services for the elderly in Singapore. In view of this dearth of spatial analysis for Singapore, this paper aims to assess the state of geographical accessibility of primary healthcare services for the elderly living in Housing Development Board (HDB) flats in Singapore
Pioneers under this scheme can receive an additional 50% off on subsidized services at polyclinics, and special subsidies at private General Practitioners (GPs) participating in the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS)
Summary
It is widely recognized that primary healthcare services are critical to national healthcare and play a vital role in support of elderly population [1,2,3]. The value of healthcare professionals is dependent on the geographical accessibility of healthcare services [5], which depends on the impact of spatial gap between the supply and the demand sides of healthcare resource. In this regard, Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The Singapore government has implemented several policies in light of city-state’s ageing population, including increased healthcare support through an SGD$8 billion Pioneer Generation. In Singapore, there are two forms of primary healthcare services: private GP clinics and public polyclinics. It is necessary to note here that the elderly would benefit especially from the continuity of care [52] provided by GP clinics rather than public polyclinics
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