Assessment of the experiences of users of the fast queue in selected primary health care facilities in the eThekwini Municipality

Abstract

Background The South African health care system is guided by the primary health care approach (PHC), which is based on the principles of accessibility, availability, affordability, equity and acceptability which are the cornerstone of primary health care. The Comprehensive PHC Service Package for South Africa is the guiding document for transforming PHC in South Africa standardizing services and increasing access to PHC services. This study will focus on the “Clinic: Fast Queue/Repeats” component of the Package. This is the protocol which guides the management of chronic disease care for adults, geriatrics and paediatrics. According to the Package, this service is for patients who have been assessed previously either at a CHC or at a clinic. For repeat medicines no assessment is required except after three months, and waiting time is minimized through the use of pre-packaged drugs. Methods A cross sectional qualitative design using a descriptive method was used to explore the experiences of the clinic users of the fast queue. A two stage sampling technique was used namely cluster and purposive sampling. In the first instance cluster sampling technique was used to sample clinics in each of the three sub-districts namely south, north and west sub districts of eThekwini municipality and purposive sampling was used to select PHC facilities, those with the highest number of attendees seen over a period of three months and the users of fast queue. Results The findings of the study revealed that there were positive factors which contributed to the satisfaction of participants and negative factors which caused dissatisfaction among participants.