| OA Odufuwa OA (odufuwaoa@telkomsa.net) |
| Family Medicine and Primary Care, Stellenbosch University |
| December, 2010 |
Abstract |
| Background: The referral system is an important component of the health care system. In public health facilities, a high number of patients’ attendance has lead to a huge burden on the secondary and tertiary level of the care system in terms of manpower, equipments and resources. Public health in South Africa consumes around 11% of the government's total budget. The state contributes about 40% of all expenditure on health; the public health sector is under pressure to deliver services to about 80% of the population. Despite the huge spending on health care in most developing countries, health outcomes and services remain poor. Few studies are available to give insights into reasons for this disparity. Therefore the findings of this may help to explain some of the reasons for this overburden of public health facilities and further to make recommendations on how health service delivery may be improve on. The results of this study can be useful in future planning; this may lead to a reduction in huge health expenditure incurred by most developing countries. Methods: A cross sectional survey of three different groups of people which comprises of 273 patients, 28 referral centre participants and 19 referring centre participants was carried out. All patients referred from Motherwell community health centre to Dora Nginza hospital were eligible for the study. Questionnaires were interview administered to patients after they had finished consultations in Dora Nginza Hospital. Health professionals from both facilities were also interviewed with the use of self administered questionnaires. Results: Three out of every four patients interviewed were of the opinion that their referral to hospital was appropriate which is consistent with the results from referring health professionals, eighteen of nineteen respondents. However, only one-quarter (7) of the referral centre health professionals felt the referrals from referring centre to hospital were appropriate p |
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