The impact of family physician supply on district health system performance, clinical processes and clinical outcomes in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (2011–2014)
Date
2018-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS
Abstract
Background: A revised family physician (FP) training programme was introduced in
South Africa in 2007. A baseline assessment (2011) of the impact of FP supply on district
health system performance was performed within the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
The impact of an increased FP supply within this province required re-evaluation.
Aim: To assess the impact of FP supply on indicators of district health system performance,
clinical processes and clinical outcomes in the Western Cape Province. The objectives were to
determine the impact of FPs, nurses, medical officers (MOs) and other specialists.
Setting: The study sample included all five rural districts and eight urban subdistricts of the
Western Cape Province.
Methods: A secondary analysis was performed on routinely collected data from the Western
Cape Department of Health from 01 March 2011 until 30 April 2014.
Results: The FP supply did not significantly impact the indicators analysed. The supply of
nurses and MOs had an impact on some of the indicators analysed.
Conclusion: This study did not replicate the positive associations between an increase in
FP supply and improved health indicators, as described previously for high-income country
settings. The impact of FP supply on clinical processes, health system performance and
outcome indicators in the Western Cape Province was not statistically significant. Future
re-evaluation is recommended to allow for more time and an increase in FP supply.
Description
CITATION: Chinhoyi, R., Zunza, M., & Von Pressentin, K. 2018. The impact of family physician supply on district health system performance, clinical processes and clinical outcomes in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (2011–2014). African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 10(1):a1442, doi:10.4102/phcfm.v10i1.1442.
The original publication is available at https://phcfm.org
The original publication is available at https://phcfm.org
Keywords
Family physician training programme, Primary health, Training programme, Health system performance, Western Cape Province -- South Africa, Family physician
Citation
Chinhoyi, R., Zunza, M., & Von Pressentin, K. 2018. The impact of family physician supply on district health system performance, clinical processes and clinical outcomes in the Western Cape Province, South Africa (2011–2014). African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 10(1):a1442, doi:10.4102/phcfm.v10i1.1442.