Citizen’s needs in primary health care in Greece

During last decades, the National Health System’s interest of many countries has been focused on primary health care (PHC), of which the main centre is the human being and it is the main pillar for promoting health and improving quality of life. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore Greek citizen’s needs and the responsiveness of health services in terms of coverage. Material-Method: The sample studied consisted of 1206 citizens of Greece. Collection of data was performed by means of an anonymous questionnaire specially designed for the needs of the research. Analysis of data was performed by the SPSS version 15 statistical package and the statistical method one way anova. Results: 45% of the sample studied was men with a mean age of 65.43 years and standard deviation 10.43 years. Regarding the place of living, 29.2% of the sample was inhabitants of Athens, 11.9% of Thessalonica, 42.2% of Crete and 13.2% of the participants were living in other cities of the country. In terms of occupational status, 32.3% were working, 50.5% were retired, 13.3% were households while 4% were unemployed. According to the needs of the citizens, 62.6% reported that they preferred psychological support, whereas 37.4% reported financial support. 64.7% of the participants were willing to use the health services of Greek municipalities. In regard to their needs, 24.8% of the studied population reported their need for more time available by health care professionals, 64.7% were willing to use the health services of Greek municipalities while 80.1% declared positive attitude for help by volunteer teams. The statistical analysis showed that men and workers assessed positively the quality of health services with statistical difference compared to women and retired people, p<0.001, respectively. Conclusions: The factors that determine citizen’s needs are gender and marital status. The results of the study suggest that citizens have more need for understanding and information and provided quality in primary health care.

Keywords: Citizen’s needs, primary health care services