Equivalence of care? Accessibility and availability of dialysis services for older prisoners in Switzerland

Abstract

Purpose According to the principle of equivalence of care, health care in prison has to be of the same standard and quality as in the general population. This study aims to determine the geographic accessibility of dialysis services for older prisoners and the older general population in Switzerland and whether accessibility and availability of dialysis care are equivalent. Design/methodology/approach Spatial accessibility analysis incorporated four different data types: population data, administrative data, street network data and addresses of prisons and hemodialysis services. Findings Analysis revealed that the average travel time to the nearest dialysis service was better for prisoners (11.5 min) than for the general population (14.8 min). However, dialysis service for prisoners is hampered by the necessary lead-time in correctional settings, which, ultimately, leads to longer overall access times (36.5 min). Accordingly, the equivalence of dialysis care for older Swiss prisoners is not entirely respected for availability and accessibility. Originality/value The strength of the study lies in the combination of ethical principles and the highly tangible results of a spatial accessibility analysis. The ethics-driven empirical analysis provides arguments for policy-makers to review the current practices.

Access to paediatric oncology centres in Switzerland: Disparities across rural–urban and Swiss‐foreigners cohorts

“…We obtained the following data: (1) disaggregated population data (i.e., 100 × 100 m raster cells) from 2020 from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office containing information on age‐group composition of the resident population to spatialise the researched population (Swiss Federal Statistical Office, 2020c ); (2) administrative data from the Swiss Federal Office of Topography to spatialise rural (i.e., exclusively rural), intermediate (i.e., both urban and rural parts) and urban (i.e., exclusively urban) areas (Swiss Federal Statistical Office, 2017a , 2020b ) 1 ; (3) street network data from OpenStreetMap ( 2022 ) to which traffic‐related car travel speeds were assigned (OpenStreetMap); and (4) addresses of PCCs (March 2022). Data suitability has been demonstrated in comparable research (Haesen et al, 2021 ; Rauch & Rauh, 2016 ; Stangl et al, 2021 ). Actual population of analysed areas (i.e., urban, intermediate, rural and entire Switzerland) broken down by nationalities (i.e., Swiss, EU/EFTA, non‐EU Europe, non‐European and total population) are presented in Table 1 : 63% of Swiss population live in urban, 22% in intermediate and 15% in rural areas.…”

“…(OpenStreetMap); and (4) addresses of PCCs (March 2022). Data suitability has been demonstrated in comparable research(Haesen et al, 2021;Rauch & Rauh, 2016;Stangl et al, 2021). Actual population of analysed areas (i.e., urban, intermediate, rural and entire Switzerland) broken down by nationalities (i.e., Swiss, EU/EFTA, non-EU Europe, non-European and total population) are presented in Table 1: 63% of Swiss population live in urban, 22% in intermediate and 15% in rural areas.…”

COVID-19: Evaluation of Fever Clinic and Fever Sentinel Configuration—A Case Study of Harbin, China

“…The accessibility research methods include the shortest-distance (time) method, Huff's model, the gravity model approach and its improved model, and the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method and its improved model. The shortest distance (time) method focuses on the distance factor and weakly considers the size factor of supply and demand points [27][28][29]. Huff's model considers the facility size and distance factors, but also does not consider the size of the demand points [30].…”