Health Care: Geographical And Physical Barriers

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Geographical and Physical Barrier
Physical Barriers/geographical can be defined as ‘Problems linked to the environment of individual needs of a patient which affects their ability to access services. This also includes people with physical impairments. Equality act 2010 requires public buildings to be accessible to those with disabilities’ (Classroom Notes, 2014).
An example of this barrier is if the surgery does not offer any disabled parking spaces in the car park for patients who are disabled, in a wheelchair and cannot walk far. Not having a disabled parking spot would mean that they would have to walk further to get to the surgery. This could make them feel stressed at the extra pressure of traveling further distance to go see the doctor …show more content…

This could disadvantage patients who cannot drive and can find no other form of transport other than bus. If the only bus stop is miles away from the location of the GP surgery this could be a barrier for patients who are disabled and cannot walk that far or patients that are unhealthy or have problems with long distances. This would mean that some patients would not be able to attend appointments because of the distance as a result they could become severely ill. Also it could waste the doctor’s time because they would be waiting for a patient without knowing the patient cannot make it to the appointment when they could be treating another patient who is in need. This could be overcome by the surgery offering transportation services such as Ring N Ride or small ambulances. Also some surgeries send out taxis for patients who cannot get themselves to the …show more content…

By not having these features in the surgery the GP would be indirectly discriminating patients with these disabilities and so would lead to patients not able to see the doctors and so the patients may not get the correct care and treatment and could lead to the patient’s illness to progress. This could be overcome by the GP surgery if these features are installed into the surgery allowing patients that have disabilities to still be able to attend their appointments and still feel independent. If overcome this could create a positive care environment because the patients will feel supported and cared for while they would still feel independent and as a result they would attend appointments and develop the level of trust between the patient and GP staff.
One effects of discrimination is Social exclusion. This can be defined as ‘the way in which an individual or group can become isolated in society. There are a number of factors which can lead to economic and psychological isolation such as inadequate housing, unemployment and inequalities in health’ (Richards and Ford,

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