Abstract
The National Primary Health Care Strategy in Australia recommends primary health care services need to be clinically and culturally appropriate and delivered in a timely and affordable manner. However simultaneously recognised, access is still inequitable in among various population groups and many areas of Australia. Geographical Information System (GIS) have been used to explore geographical health disparities, planning health care service delivery and provide data in a meaningful way to inform public health strategies. Moreover, GIS has also been used to spatially analyse, measure and provide insight into a population's accessibility to health care services. A literature search was conducted to identify studies which examined primary health care accessibility using GIS techniques among various urban and rural populations. A limited number of studies demonstrated in addition to distance; time; and location, low socioeconomic status, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) background among other factors influences health care access. In addition, other factors were identified to impact health care access, which is an individualised process, influenced by individual characteristics, beliefs, attitudes, and an individual's activity space. As health care accessibility becomes more prominent within policy, among practitioners and increasingly researched, it has the potential to move beyond recognising areas of poor accessibility among individuals and communities. With a greater integration of both spatial and aspatial data, the process has the likelihood, to provide greater insight into patient behaviour, public perception, amelioration service quality and improve population health and wellbeing.
Highlights
The Department of Health and Ageing [1], stated in the National Primary Health Care Strategy that all “Australians should have access to primary health care services which keep people well and manage ill-health”
The floating catchment area which is at times is referred to the floating catchment method is akin with the Kernel density estimation model. [11,25,26] It was initially developed to assess job accessibility [27,28] but later used to determine health care access. [20,29] Rather than using fixed state, municipal or census borders – a predetermined ‘drive time’ radius around a centre point or centroid is used as the ‘catchment’ area
It was noted eight studies had used the either a 2SFCA or 3SFCA to measure spatial accessibility, seven used either time or Euclidean distance from place of residence or census area to provider, one had used Floating Catchment Areas (FCA), while another had used a Modified version of gravity model and the remaining six studied used various number of Geographical Information System (GIS) methods to understand the spatial accessibility of the population
Summary
[1] This was made obvious in a recent article, where a super clinic in South Australia was being built where other services already existed, while five kilometres away a community with high socio-economic disadvantage had lost their last GP. Similar to defining health care, access to health care is complex and may mean many things to different people It is “not limited to the availability of care, the ability to get to and pay for available care, or the act of seeking and utilising available care”. [4,11] Penchansky and Thomas [12], state “‘Access’ is defined here as a concept representing the degree of ‘fit’ between the clients and the system” The framework they outline highlights five interdependent dimensions to determine and aid individuals to understand what access may mean. These dimensions include availability, accessibility, accommodation, affordability, and acceptability. [12] Khan and Bhardwaj
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
