Evaluation of access to primary care units in small Brazilian municipalities

Abstract Background Although the advances of Primary Health Care in Brazil are acknowledged, studies have demonstrated the persistence of challenges, including the quality of access to health services. Objective Describe aspects of user access to Primary Health Care units of small Brazilian municipalities. Method Cross-sectional evaluative research and quantitative approach. Secondary data used from the national base of the National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Primary Care, totaling 35,815 users. Results The Northeast region was characterized by non-scheduled appointments, hours of operation that did not meet the users’ needs, and not working on every day of the week. The South and Southeast regions presented similar characteristics regarding the units’ weekdays hours of functioning, the working hours to meet the needs of the users, and appointment scheduling. The North and Central-West regions show similar longer waiting time for accessing the Units and similar degree of difficulty of access. Conclusion The study pointed to regional differences in geographical and organizational aspects that interfere with access, which can be rethought to make health care more equitable.