Equivalence of care? Accessibility and availability of dialysis services for older prisoners in Switzerland
International Journal of Prisoner Health
ISSN: 1744-9200
Article publication date: 30 June 2021
Issue publication date: 17 November 2021
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.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number: 135035). The funding source had no involvement in the conduct of the research.Conflict of interest: None.Ethical approval: Not applicable.Data statement: While highly disaggregated population data cannot be made available, all other data were open source. Population data are available from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study and so are not publicly available. The data sets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available, as they used the above-mentioned population data. Further results for smaller administrative areas (e.g. communities and cities) or comparisons between different geographic areas can be made available by the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Citation
Haesen, S., Rauch, S., Elger, B. and Rost, M. (2021), "Equivalence of care? Accessibility and availability of dialysis services for older prisoners in Switzerland", International Journal of Prisoner Health, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 533-545. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-11-2020-0096
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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