Over the past thirty years, Hungary’s health indicators have been showing a certain improving trend, however, the lack of medical professionals and doctors is becoming more and more worrisome. Regarding the number of General Practitioners per 100,000 people in the EU, Hungary ranks second to last. Access to primary healthcare shows increasing regional differences. Moving further away from the county-rank cities along a concentric circle, in accordance with the settlement hierarchy, the access to healthcare services shows a decreasing tendency. A significant part of Hungary’s rural areas consists of intensively aging and shrinking communities, which leads to a progressive deterioration in overall health. The inequality of possibilities in rural areas is reflected in the access to GPs, on-call and emergency services, and preventive screening options for basic chronic diseases._x000D_
In recent years, the corresponding policy has repeatedly tried to intervene and reduce territorial differences through structural reorganization, regulations, or at least tried to flatten the curve of the deteriorating trend as much as possible. Such systemic health policy actions include, for instance, the establishments of partnerships in general practice and the obligation of private practitioners to serve in public service, the abolition of small GP-districts, and the full integration of ambulance service into on-call care. The use of screening buses at the national level is a successful program to have the most underdeveloped regions catch up in terms of access to healthcare._x000D_
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The aim of the research is the comparative analysis and critical evaluation of state initiatives designed to improve the access to healthcare in rural areas. The purpose of the presentation is to describe the policy interventions applied or planned in particular regions by demonstrating and analysing the available statistical data and their GIS visualisation, highlighting some of the major territorial challenges.

Szabolcs Bálint, Henriett Maráz, Éva Máté, Gábor Pirisi
University of Pécs Doctoral School of Earth Sciences

 
ID Abstract: 495