Abstract
BackgroundPrimary care is the first point of care, also for people with disabilities. The accessibility of primary care facilities is therefore very important. In this study we analysed comparative data on physical accessibility of general practices (GP practices) in 31 (mainly) European countries.MethodsWe used data from the QUALICOPC study, conducted in 2011 among GPs in 34 (mainly European) countries and constructed a physical accessibility scale. We applied multilevel analysis to assess the differences between and within countries and to test hypotheses, related to characteristics of the practices and of the countries.ResultsWe found large differences between countries and a strong clustering of physical accessibility within countries. Physical accessibility was negatively related to the age of the GPs, and was less in single-handed and in inner city practices. Of the country variables only the length of the period of social democratic government participation during the previous decades was positively related to physical accessibility.ConclusionA large share of the variation in physical accessibility of GP practices was on the level of countries. This means that national policies can be used to increase physical accessibility of GP practices.
Highlights
IntroductionThe accessibility of primary care facilities is very important
Primary care is the first point of care, for people with disabilities
This shows the large differences between countries in physical accessibility of general practitioners (GPs) practices
Summary
The accessibility of primary care facilities is very important. Accessibility of primary care facilities is increasingly important with more people with a disability living in the community, partly as a result of ageing of the population [1]. A report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights shows large variation between EU member states in access to general services for people with disabilities living in the community, with a range of 25 to 65% declaring difficulty in accessing at least one of five types of services (including banks, public transport and primary health care services). On average 23% declared to have difficulties in accessing primary health care and this represents the biggest gap between people with and without disabilities among these general services [4] Lack of access to health care has consequences for health and wellbeing of people with disabilities [5] and leads to unmet health needs [6, 7]
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