1. Understanding patient access patterns for primary health-care services for Aboriginal and Islander people in Queensland: a geospatial mapping approach.
- Author
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Panaretto, K. S., Dellit, A., Hollins, A., Wason, G., Sidhom, C., Chilcott, K., Malthouse, D., Andrews, S., Mein, J., Ahkee, B., and McDermott, R.
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COMMUNITY health services , *FAMILY medicine , *GEOGRAPHIC information systems , *HEALTH services accessibility , *PRIMARY health care , *RESEARCH funding , *TIME , *TRAVEL , *MEDICAL care of indigenous peoples , *SOCIAL context , *MEDICAL coding , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics - Abstract
This paper explores the patterns of patients' accessing six Aboriginal and Islander Community Controlled Health Services (AICCHSs) in Queensland. Between August 2011 and February 2014, 26 199 patients made at least one visit over a 2-year period prior to at least one of six QueenslandAICCHS- one urban service(RA1) in south-east Queensland, and five services in regional towns (RA 3) in Far North Queensland. Geospatial mapping of addresses for these registered patients was undertaken. The outcomes analysed included travel times to, the proportion of catchment populations using each AICCHS and an assessment of alternative mainstream general practice availability to these patients was made. In brief, the use of AICCHS was higher than Australian Bureau of Statistics census data would suggest. Approximately 20% of clients travel more than 30 min to seek Aboriginal Health services, but only 8% of patients travelled longer than 60 min. In the major city site, many other general practitioner (GP) services were bypassed. The data suggest Aboriginal and Islander patients in Queensland appear to value community-controlled primary care services. The number of Indigenous clients in regional locations in the Far North Queensland registered with services is often higher than the estimated resident population numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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