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. 2017 Sep 11;7(8):e016614.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016614.

Access to healthcare for men and women with disabilities in the UK: secondary analysis of cross-sectional data

Dikaios Sakellariou  1 , Elena S Rotarou  2
Affiliations

Access to healthcare for men and women with disabilities in the UK: secondary analysis of cross-sectional data

Dikaios Sakellariou et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate differences in access to healthcare between people with and without disabilities in the UK. The hypotheses were that: (1) people with disabilities would be more likely to have unmet healthcare needs and (2) there would be gender differences, with women more likely to report unmet needs.

Setting and participants: We performed secondary analysis, using logistic regressions, of deidentified cross-sectional data from the European Health Interview Survey, Wave 2. The sample included 12 840 community-dwelling people over the age of 16 from across the UK, 5 236 of whom had a disability. The survey method involved face-to-face and telephone interviews.

Outcome measures: Unmet need for healthcare due to long waiting lists or distance or transportation problems; not being able to afford medical examination, treatment, mental healthcare or prescribed medicines. All measures were self-reported.

Results: Adjusting for age, sex and other factors, people with a severe disability had higher odds of facing unmet needs. The largest gap was in 'unmet need for mental healthcare due to cost', where people with a severe disability were 4.5 times (CI 95% 2.2 to 9.2) more likely to face a problem, as well as in 'unmet need due to cost of prescribed medicine', where people with a mild disability had 3.6 (CI 95% 2.2 to 5.9) higher odds of facing a difficulty. Women with a disability were 7.2 times (CI 95% 2.7 to 19.4) more likely to have unmet needs due to cost of care or medication, compared with men with no disability.

Conclusions: People with disabilities reported worse access to healthcare, with transportation, cost and long waiting lists being the main barriers. These findings are worrying as they illustrate that a section of the population, who may have higher healthcare needs, faces increased barriers in accessing services.

Keywords: disability; health care access; organisation of health services; public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
People with unmet healthcare needs (%).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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