Public expectations of good primary health care in China: a national qualitative study

China is currently making efforts to transform the current hospital-centric service delivery system to people-centred primary health care (PHC)-based delivery system, with service delivery organized around the health needs and expectations of people. To help direct China's PHC reform efforts, a profile of high-quality PHC from the public's perspective is required.

To profile high-quality PHC from the perspective of the Chinese public.

Semistructured interviews were conducted in 6 provinces (Henan, Shandong, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Heilongjiang) in China. In total, 58 interviewees completed the recorded interview. For transcription, trained research assistant listened to the recording of the interviews, summarizing each 30-s segment in English. Next, thematic analysis was performed on the narrative summaries to identify thematic families.

Seven themes and 16 subthemes were generated from the analysis of our interview data. In order of their frequency, the interviewees expressed a high expectation for interpersonal communication and technical quality; followed by access, comprehensive care, cost, continuity, and coordination.

Using qualitative data from 6 provinces in China, knowledge was generated to reveal the public's views and expectations for high-quality PHC. Our results confirm the urgent need for quality improvement efforts to improve patient experience and technical quality. The government also needs to further improve the delivery system and medical training programme to better meet public expectation in these areas, especially in establishing an innovative integrated primary care model, and strengthening interpersonal and clinical competency training for family doctors.