Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services.

ABSTRACT: Inequities in access to General Practitioner (GP) services are a key policy concern given the role of GPs as gatekeepers to secondary care services. Geographic or area-level factors, including local deprivation and supply of healthcare providers, are important elements of access. In considering how area-level deprivation relates to GP utilisation, two potentially opposing factors may be important. The supply of healthcare services tends to be lower in areas of higher deprivation. However, poorer health status among individuals in deprived areas suggests greater need for healthcare. To explore the relationship of area-level deprivation to healthcare utilisation, we use data from the Healthy Ireland survey, which provided a sample of 6326 respondents to face-to-face interviews. A u-sh

SUBMITTER: Barlow P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8342788 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature