As the health divide widens in Sweden and Britain, what's happening to access to care?

摘要

In 1993-4, inequalities in access to care appeared in Sweden for the first time since the 1960s. Britain had little socioeconomic inequality in consultations with general practitioners in the mid-1980s, but a "pro-poor" gradient developed in the 1990s; this was not apparent for outpatient visits. In both countries the health divide widened between socioeconomic groups between 1984-5 and 1990-1 and narrowed slightly by 1993-4. This narrowing of health differentials in Britain occurred because of a marked deterioration in morbidity for the professional group. The major shifts in labour market and health policies over the decade provide possible explanations for some of the trends in utilisation.