Barriers to uptake of referral services from secondary care to tertiary care and its associated factors in L V Prasad Eye Institute network in Southern India: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To examine barriers to the uptake of referral services from secondary care centres to higher level tertiary care centres. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Secondary care hospital in Khammam District in the Telangana state of India. PARTICIPANTS: Nine hundred and three patients who were referred from a secondary care centre to tertiary care centres between June 2011 and December 2012, were over the age of 18 and lived within 50 km of the secondary care centre were identified. Six hundred and sixteen (68.2%) of these patients were successfully contacted, and 611 (99%) of those contacted consented to participation in the study. INTERVENTIONS: Those who attended at higher centres after referral (compliant) and those who failed to attend (non-compliant) were interviewed with a standard questionnaire designed for the study. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome measures were barriers to the uptake of eye care services for the non-compliant participants and the associated risk factors for non-compliance. RESULTS: Of the contacted patients, 418 (68.4%) were compliant and 193 (31.6%) were non-compliant. The mean age of interviewed patients was 48.4 years (SD: 17.9 years) and 365 (59.7%) were male. Of those who did not comply with their referral, the major identified barriers were ‘cannot afford treatment cost’ (30%) and ‘able to see adequately’ (20.7%). Multivariable analysis showed that participants in the non-compliant group were more likely to have had only one prior visit to the centre (OR: 2.5, 95% CI 1.6 to 3.9), be referred for oculoplastic services (OR: 3.0, 95% CI 1.0 to 8.8) and to be the main earning member of the family (OR: 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.8). CONCLUSIONS: Non-compliance with referrals in this population is largely attributable to economic and attitudinal reasons. Focusing on these specific barriers and targeting groups at higher risk of non-compliance could potentially improve uptake of referral services.