Perceptions of older adults and health providers about accessibility to health services

Introduction: In Cuba, the improvement in living, working and health conditions has led to the increase of aged population, which demands health services of excellent quality and accessible to the older adults. Objective: To identify perceptions on the accessibility to health services by the older adults. Methods: Descriptive and qualitative research study conducted from 2012 to 2014 in six municipalities of Havana provinces, which were randomly selected on the basis of their high, medium and low levels of aging. Twelve focal groups were formed with health providers and 18 with older adults aged 60 years and over. Results: There were observed an increase in the number of persons who were seen at the physician´s offices and more delays; longer distances from these offices to the old people´s houses. Gaps were perceived in accessibility to health services depending on the felt needs as well as difficulties to move to specialized services. The older adults believed that it was difficult to provide criteria about their needs and that there was no priority in health services for their care. They were unsatisfied with accessibility of subjective nature, which is determined by the economic conditions and the organizational processes. Conclusions: Accessibility to health services shows gaps and is not in line with the needs of the older adults. The Cuban population aging is an event of special importance, so alternatives must be found to encourage the consideration of the older adults' criteria in order to achieve more effective and efficient responses to their health care requirements(AU)