Improvements urban and rural women wish to see in their health care services
Walton, V.A.; Romans-Clarkson, S.E.; Mullen, P.E.
New Zealand Medical Journal 101(840): 80-82
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-8446 PMID: 3380438 Document Number: 325798
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.