Emergency healthcare needs in the Lavender Hill suburb of Cape Town, South Africa: a cross-sectional, community-based household survey

OBJECTIVE: Emergency care is a key component of healthcare systems, but little is known about its real impact on communities. This study evaluated access, utilisation and barriers to healthcare, and specifically emergency care, in the low socioeconomic Cape Town suburb of Lavender Hill. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, community-based household survey. SETTING: Lavender Hill suburb in the Cape Flats of Cape Town, South Africa. PARTICIPANTS: Two-stage cluster sampling was used to identify approximately 13 households in each of 46 clusters, for a total of 608 households. A senior householder responded on behalf of each household surveyed. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Access to, utilisation of and unmet needs related to healthcare at large and emergency care. RESULTS: In August 2018, 608 households were surveyed, encompassing 2754 individuals, with a response rate of 96.4%. Almost a quarter of respondents (n=663, 24.1%) used the healthcare system within the last year. Female gender, advancing age, lower levels of education, recipients of disability grants, smaller household sizes and living in formal dwellings were factors associated with increased risk of unmet healthcare and emergency care needs. Only a small proportion of respondents (n=39, 1.4%) reported having unmet emergency healthcare needs, with wait times at facilities (n=9, 23.1%), emergency medical service delays (n=7, 17.9%) and personal safety (n=6, 15.4%) being prominent. There was a high prevalence of chronic medical conditions (hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemias) and recent deaths predominantly from trauma and malignancy. CONCLUSION: The emergency healthcare needs of the community appear to be well catered for, although community expectations may not be high and many barriers exist, particularly in accessing emergency care—be it via ambulance services or at healthcare facilities—and caring for chronic diseases in the ageing population. The Lavender Hill community could benefit from programmes addressing chronic disease management and emergency care delivery within the community.