Free clinic utilisation by immigrants after the introduction of a restrictive health policy in the Basque Country (Spain)
Objectives: Policies restricting healthcare access for immigrants were applied in times of reduced public funding for welfare in Spain. This study aimed to assess the impact of the implementation of a more restrictive health policy in the Basque Country region, Decree 114/2012, on the number of cons...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad del País Vasco |
| Repositorio: | Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/69338 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10810/69338 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | free clinic undocumented immigrants health policy healthcare access migrant |
| Sumario: | Objectives: Policies restricting healthcare access for immigrants were applied in times of reduced public funding for welfare in Spain. This study aimed to assess the impact of the implementation of a more restrictive health policy in the Basque Country region, Decree 114/2012, on the number of consultations attended at a free clinic, where the majority of patients are undocumented immigrants. Study Design: Interrupted time series. Methods: A negative binomial regression model was applied in two phases to the number of healthcare consultations during the period 2007e2017 (n ¼ 9272) to estimate the level and trend changes associated with the implementation of the policy. Data were analysed separately by sex and adjusted for consultations' seasonality and unemployment rate and the sex-specific percentage of migrant population in Biscay province as confounding factors. Results: Different trends of attendance between men and women were observed during the whole period, constituting 76.94% and 23.06% of all consultations, respectively. After the implementation of the decree, the number of consultations for women per trimester decreased and increased for men by 1%, although it was not statistically significant in either of the trends. Conclusions: No clear relationship between the implementation of the Basque Decree 114/2012 and an increase in the attendance of immigrants in a free clinic during the studied period was found. |
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