| Sub-title | |
| Author | C Azzopardi |
| Abstract | Distance from residence to the point of delivery of a community service may be perceived as a barrier to referral and access to that service. Objective: To examine the effect of distance from the place of residence to a health centre on the referral rate to the medical consultant clinic (MCC), and to identify any geographic barriers to attendance at the MCC as determined by the mode of transport to the clinic. Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants and setting: New case referrals to the MCC at Qormi health centre between January and June 2005. Data collected: Date of clinic; age; sex; mode of transport to clinic - walking (approximate duration in minutes), motorised transport (car, bus, other); reason for choice of transport - to far to walk, unable to walk for medical reason, other reason. Data analysis: New cases per unit population over time for the villages of Qormi, Siggiewi and Zebbug respectively; proportion of walking versus non-walking new cases for the village of Qormi. Results: The rate of new case referrals per thousand populations of Qormi, Siggiewi and Zebbug were 4, 3.3 and 4.4 respectively (Chi-squared 3.81, p = 0.157). All patients from Siggiewi and Zebbug used motorised transport to access Qormi heatlh centre, with 68% opting for personal transport. 52% of patients from Qormi walked to the health centre, the majority taking up to ten minutes. The mean age (SD) of the patients who walked was 61.4 (11.2) years, and those who used motorised transport 55.7 (12.7) years (U = 7535, p = 0.023). Conclusion: Distance to Qormi health centre is not a barrier and does not affect the rate of new case referrals to the MCC. |
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| Journal | Malta Medical Journal |
| Volume | 15 Issue 1-2/suppl. 2003 |
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| Key words | barrier, case referrals, primary care, access to services |