The findings are the conclusion of the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health. Forty-five percent of the population lives in areas where on a weekly basis, some patients are unable to see a doctor even if their condition has warranted an appointment.

Another issue still in need of improvement is the requirement that everyone must be able to contact a health care centre without delay. But this is still difficult, especially between eight and ten a.m. in the morning. Twenty-six percent of the population occasionally has difficulties in getting through to a health care centre when they need it.

Public welfare laws now require patients' needs to be assessed within three days, and this has improved to the point that exceptions are rare. In practice, this means that health care workers determine whether there is a need to see a physician or a specialist, or whether the patient will mend without further treatments.