Attitudes to the provision of primary health care at the day hospitals in Cape Town.

Day hospitals in Cape Town are examined against the criteria in the definition of primary health care of the World Health Organization's Declaration of Alma Ata. A survey of patients attending a day hospital was undertaken to ascertain the consumer perspective regarding access to and quality of the service offered. The provider's perspective was obtained from secondary sources and in-depth interviews. It was found that the services are generally acceptable to the users, but that factors such as waiting time and transport create problems for patients. Community participation is also very limited. The separation of preventive and curative services also places limitations on the day hospitals--they provide only curative health care. The most important reason given by patients for using the day hospitals is the low cost.