Experiences and Satisfaction of Patients with Non-Communicable Diseases with Current Care in Primary Health Care Centres in Saudi Arabia

Primary Healthcare Centre Improvement and Privatisation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

Saudi Arabia prioritises primary healthcare reform to address challenges like population growth, high demand, high costs, and unequal access. The 2030 vision aims to integrate and maintain primary healthcare centre (PHC) services, while the healthcare privatisation plan seeks to modernise and expand primary care, medical cities, and dialysis centres. A search was run on different databases, and 18 studies were included in the review based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted from the studies, which included the aim of the study, sample characteristics, study characteristics, and outcomes. This systematic review integrated findings from 18 recent studies on Saudi PHC services, infrastructure, workforce, policies, and reforms. The evidence depicts a system with strengths in some areas like immunisation but substantial gaps in critical domains like chronic disease management, preventive care, health information systems, care coordination, and equity. Patients face organisational, geographic, and socioeconomic barriers that impede PHC access and force overreliance on emergency services. Moreover, the PHC system faces significant gaps in areas like preventive care, health information systems, care coordination, and equity, with patients facing organisational, geographic, and socioeconomic barriers that impede access and overreliance on emergency services. Workforce limitations, particularly in rural areas, contribute to suboptimal quality. Strengthening PHCs is crucial for achieving Saudi Vision 2030 goals of improved population health outcomes, user experience, care integration, and healthcare sustainability.

Patients and Health Professionals' Perceptions of Primary Health Care Services in Saudi Arabia: A Scoping Review

Objective

This scoping review aims to identify and summarize existing evidence concerning the quality and capacity of PHC services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with a focus on the patients and healthcare professionals' perceptions of PHC.

Methods

This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The digital library, PubMed, and the search engine Google Scholar were searched to broaden our results for primary research involving patient and/or health professionals' perspectives on Primary Healthcare in KSA.

Results

A total of 38 publications were selected for the scoping review. Several studies examined patients' overall satisfaction with PHC services (n=14) while others focused their investigation on specific services provided by PHC (n=3). Several studies assessed the perceptions of certain groups of patients (n=5). Several studies examined health professionals' perceptions of the use of electronic health records (n=3), the safety culture (n=2), communicable disease management (n=1), emergency services (n=1), laboratory services (n=1), cost-effectiveness (n=1), and leadership (n=1). This review also included studies that assessed the health professionals' job satisfaction and burnout (n=6).

Conclusion

Patients were satisfied with some aspects of PHC services while recognizing that improvements in some areas were needed. These included waiting time, physician-patient communication, access to the services in rural areas, patient involvement in disease management, and oral health. Health workers were positive about certain quality aspects and services provided by PHC such as EHRs, safety culture, communicable disease management, emergency services, and laboratory services. Health workers demonstrated a low level of job satisfaction due to several reasons, including, working conditions, financial incentives, and burnout.