BACKGROUND: The objective of the present study was to use available data provided by the programme Health Services Indicators (HSI) for partial analyses focused on the estimated health services needs in different districts of the Czech Republic (CR) and on evaluation of some intentions of the health policy. METHODS AND RESULTS: After evaluation of the standardized and gross mortality rates in different districts of the CR the authors evaluated relationships of selected indicators recorded in 1995. The correlation of the gross mortality as an orientational estimate of health services needs in different districts of the CR and expenditures of health insurance companies for health care per one insured subject was low and was not statistically significant (r = -0.062). A close correlation with expenditure of health insurance companies was found with the number of doctors (r = 0.894), the number of nurses (r = 0.842) and the number of hospital beds (r = 0.679). The number of population per general practitioner correlated only weakly with the expenditure of health insurance companies (r = 0.012). A marked correlation (r = -0.676) was found between the percentage of general practitioners from the total number of doctors in the district and expenditures of the health insurance companies. CONCLUSIONS: The authors recommend that the role of general practitioners in the system of health care should be appreciated and that primary care should be conceived as the basis of effective, economical and high standard health care. It is desirable that HSI data should become the baseline of systematic operational research into health services.

Ustav sociálního lékarstvi a verejného zdravotnictví LF MU Brno

Primary health care in the Czech Republic: brief history and current issues