Percepção dos idosos quanto ao acesso aos serviços de Estratégia de Saúde da Família no município de Natal/RN

Abstract

Worldwide aging and recommendations for the structure of social equipment that provide an active aging, brings concerns about how to access to health services in primary care has been happening. Concerning about this issue, this study aims to understand how the elderly population evaluates their access to the Family Health Strategy service of a Brazilian capital. In this perception, the focus group technique was performed with the participation of 18 elderly. Guided by a flexible script, the researcher sought to understand the speech of the elderly in economic-social, organizational, technical and political dimensions. The material was recorded with the permission of participants, transcribed and analyzed according to content analysis, recommended by Minayo. The results have shown that the elderly positively evaluate the geographical location of the unit, the bond between professionals and users, the welcoming and the humanized practices performed in the unit. Issues which represented dissatisfaction are linked to the ambience, the precarious structure of the unit, the lack of spaces for social participation, and the precariousness of the regulatory system that is insufficient to continue their treatment. About the evaluation service quality, the opinions were quite heterogeneous, part of the participants evaluates positively and another part negatively showing the complexity of evaluating health services.