Jacob Barling, Rhonda Halpin and Michael Levy
There is little literature on patient satisfaction related to prisoner health services; the little that does exist refers to specific services, or to sub‐groups of…
Abstract
There is little literature on patient satisfaction related to prisoner health services; the little that does exist refers to specific services, or to sub‐groups of prisoner‐patients. We describe a general assessment of prisoner health services conducted on two separate occasions each with a collective sample of 210 participants, three years apart, using the same instrument. We utilised the World Health Organization Rapid Cluster Sample Survey on both occasions. We conclude that prisoners are interested informants for the health services provided to them. They have valid concerns about the confidentiality of their medical records. Programs and work routines have major impacts on accessibility of prison‐based health services. Given the lack of choice in service‐providers for prisoners, greater flexibility is required by health and custodial agencies to accommodate these two competing areas of activity. We demonstrated that a health service targeting an ‘at risk’ population can respond to inadequacies in service provision. Finally, we confirmed that the World Health Organization Rapid Cluster Sample Survey methodology is an efficient and effective means of assessing health services to discrete populations.
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Adam Capon, Lien McGowan and Julia Bowman
Patient-centred care is a key approach used in Australia for the delivery of quality health care, and understanding experiences and perceptions is a key part to this. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Patient-centred care is a key approach used in Australia for the delivery of quality health care, and understanding experiences and perceptions is a key part to this. This paper aims to explore prisoners’ experiences and perceptions of health-care service provision in New South Wales, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
In February and March 2017, 24 focus groups, consisting of 128 participants, were undertaken using semi-structured interviews that explored experiences of health care in prison.
Findings
A conceptualisation of the prisoners’ health-care experience around the core category of access to health care emerged from the data. Enablers or barriers to this access were driven by three categories: a prison construct – how the prisoners “see” the prison system influencing access to health care; a health-care system construct – how the prisoners “see” the prison health-care system and the pathways to navigate it; and personal factors. Communication was the category with the greatest number of relational connections.
Research limitations/implications
This study takes a pragmatic approach to the analysis of data, the findings forming the basis for a future quantitative study. The findings identify communication as a key issue for access to health care.
Originality/value
This study provides first-hand accounts of enablers and barriers to accessing health-care services in the prison environment. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to identify access to health care as a core category and is of value to health workers and researchers that work with the prison population.