Spatial Analysis of the Availability of Health and Social Services for People with Special Needs

Abstract The health care system should offer and provide a variety of services without undue delay. Due to numerous technical, financial and human resource constraints, not all services can be offered both without restrictions and in equal measure in places of different sizes of residence. As a result of qualitative and quantitative research, a map of accessibility to social and health services was drawn up, taking into consideration the division of the country into voivodeships with different population. Spatial analysis showed great diversity in terms of service availability. Voivodships with the highest accessibility of health and social services are Dolnośląskie, Opolskie and Świętokrzyskie, while the worst situation is in Wielkopolskie. Moreover, the article identifies the main problems that people with limited functionality encounter when using health and social services.