Improvements urban and rural women wish to see in their health care services.
This study asked 2000 women randomly selected from the community to comment on their health services. Three-quarters did so; one-quarter were satisfied with currently available services but 45% specified changes they would like to see. The criticisms fell into three broad groups: (a) hospital services where delays, centralisation and referral paths were criticised; (b) general practice where doctor-patient communication was mentioned; and (c) cost of certain health services. Women who criticised currently available services tended to be younger, better educated with higher socioeconomic status, to be in paid employment and to have more often poor health or a close relative with poor health than the women who made no comment. These findings are seen as constructive comments from a thoughtful and informed group of health consumers.
Walton
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Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin.
Romans-Clarkson
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SE
Mullen
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PE
D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research; D009520:New Zealand; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution