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Access to healthcare: patients' individual needs should be taken into account

Being aware of patients’ specific difficulties makes it possible to improve their access to healthcare.

Taking account of patients’ individual needs enables healthcare professionals to provide better care, especially for those with particular difficulties.

For example, there are some 3 million illiterate people in France, i.e. people who left school barely able to read or write: if healthcare professionals adapt their method of communication and check whether patients have understood written information, they can improve the quality of care for these patients.
In prison, doctors’ scope for action is restricted by penal conditions and prison regulations: slower access to healthcare, restriction on medical professionals’ activities and on how they care for the patient, lack of confidentiality, increased risk of the healthcare professional being “used”, etc.

Access to healthcare for Travellers is hindered by the reciprocal wariness between patients and healthcare professionals, by group pressure on healthcare professionals, and the feeling of not understanding and not being understood.  In this case it is vital for healthcare professionals to make themselves available and to take the time to explain.

Illegal immigrants frequently live in insalubrious conditions and their lives are fraught with administrative and financial difficulties. They live in fear of being reported, given a hostile reception or being sent back. Healthcare professionals can help them a great deal by treating them as human beings and upholding their rights.
Drug addicts have limited access to healthcare due to the fact that some healthcare professionals refuse to treat them and they face discrimination from institutions.

©Prescrire September 2010

Source: Numéro spécial "Agir pour l'accès de chacun aux soins de qualité" Rev Prescrire 2010; 30 (322).
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