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Published on: March 20, 2017
Improving equitable access to publicly funded bariatric surgery in Queensland, Australia
Megan Cross1, Jody Paxton2, Katie Wykes2
1Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Qld, Australia.
Background:
People living in regional Queensland, Australia, have less access to health care than their metropolitan neighbours; a gap that is wider if they are also of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethnicity. The Bariatric Surgery Initiative (BSI) aims to provide metabolic bariatric surgery as a public service accessible to all Queenslanders for patients with morbid obesity according to need, regardless of location or ethnicity.
Methods:
We investigated the BSI's progress in closing the metro-regional gap by comparing the distribution of referrals for surgery with the geographic and ethnic spread of obesity across Queensland in 2017-2019.
Results:
Regional Queensland is home to 59.8% of Queensland's individuals with obesity, whereas 40.2% live in metropolitan Brisbane. In contrast, 47.8% of referrals were from regional areas, with 52.2% received from Brisbane. We found that more patients from metropolitan than regional areas underwent metabolic bariatric surgery, probably due to a paucity of referrals from regional locations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were able to access the service and all patients realised significant health benefits after surgery.
Conclusions:
The BSI improved access to this service, and inequities in metro-regional access may depend on patient choice and healthcare provider awareness of the BSI.
Trial Registration:
This initiative was a quality improvement study focused on providing access to care rather than a clinical trial; as such it was not registered as a clinical trial.
