How access to healthcare affects population health

This chapter explores access to healthcare—the timely availability of professional health services to prevent, diagnose, and treat illnesses and to preserve or improve the health of individuals—and its consequences. The ethical context in which access is considered includes the human rights and social justice concepts of ‘a right to healthcare’ and ‘equity of access’. Conscious that these concepts differ from country to country, we offer working definitions. Countries and their governments vary in their political and social attitudes to access. Those with a strong social welfare agenda might focus attention and budgets on social factors such as education and social welfare; these not only determine health, but also access to care. Others, regarding healthcare as the individual’s concern, might give these factors less weight. Despite this complexity and much national variation, access depends, in general, most often on good primary healthcare, public investment, and political will, availability of data to guide resourcing decisions, and the development of a well-trained, integrated workforce with appropriate supporting infrastructure.