[The assessment of quality perceived by the users of the basic health areas of Cuenca]

To find the quality, as perceived by the users, of the health districts of Motilla del Palancar and Cardenete (Cuenca), and define the differences, if they exist, between outlying health clinics and central ones.

A descriptive, cross-sectional observation study.

Health districts of Motilla del Palancar and Cardenete, both in the Cuenca Health Region.

A random sample of 442 persons was selected from the 9542 patients with a health card in the health districts under study.

A questionnaire based on the Hulka studies, which had already been used by the Ministry of Health and Consumption in our field and was of proven validity and reliability, was administered to each patient. The main researcher did 442 interviews. The overall assessment by the patients, on a scale from 1 to 7, was 6.07. The scores by patients of the central clinics of the health districts were, in general, lower than those of patients from the rural nuclei.

In general, patients gave high scores in their assessment of perceived quality. Patients in rural nuclei perceived greater health care quality than those from the main clinics.