Specialization of health care networks: analysis of flows established in the city of Recife/PE

Abstract

One of the great challenges faced in the management of public health services committed to comprehensive care lies in the organization of networked and territorially established services. The considerable increase in the population's access to the Family Health Strategy is considered an advance in the care implemented in Primary Care. However, this addition brought to light the importance of better management of services at other levels of care, as it meant a greater demand for this network. Thus, this article considers undertaking an appreciation of the spatialization of health care networks in the territorial context of Recife, Pernambuco, by analyzing the displacement patterns of patients referred by primary care to more specialized health services. For that, a qualitative and quantitative study was carried out through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires applied to teams of professionals and users of the Unified Health System in the city of Recife. Through the analysis undertaken here, on a local scale, it was possible to perceive that even in these territories that present a greater diversity and apparent availability of these frequently used services, such as the case of Recife, there are still gaps that expose the insufficiency of the current service system established.