IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i15p6687-d1707407.html

Spatial Analysis of Medical Service Accessibility in the Context of Quality of Life and Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Olsztyn County, Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Iwona Cieślak

    (Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Institute of Spatial Management and Geography, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia Mazury in Olsztyn, ul. Michała Oczapowskiego 2, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Bartłomiej Eźlakowski

    (Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Institute of Spatial Management and Geography, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia Mazury in Olsztyn, ul. Michała Oczapowskiego 2, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Andrzej Biłozor

    (Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Institute of Spatial Management and Geography, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia Mazury in Olsztyn, ul. Michała Oczapowskiego 2, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Adam Senetra

    (Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Institute of Spatial Management and Geography, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia Mazury in Olsztyn, ul. Michała Oczapowskiego 2, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

This study investigates the accessibility of public healthcare services in Olsztyn County, a major urban center in the Warmia and Mazury region of Poland. The aim was to develop a methodological framework using Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and spatial data to assess the local availability of healthcare infrastructure. The analysis included key facilities such as hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and specialized outpatient services. A spatial accessibility indicator was constructed to evaluate and compare access levels across municipalities. The results show a clear disparity between urban and rural areas, with significantly better access in cities. Several rural municipalities were found to have limited or no access to essential healthcare services. These findings highlight the uneven spatial distribution of medical infrastructure and point to the need for targeted strategies to improve service availability in underserved areas. The proposed methodological approach may support future studies and inform local and regional planning aimed at reducing healthcare inequalities and improving access for all residents, regardless of their location. This research contributes to the growing body of evidence emphasizing the role of spatial analysis in assessing public service accessibility and supports the development of more equitable healthcare systems at the local level.

Suggested Citation

  • Iwona Cieślak & Bartłomiej Eźlakowski & Andrzej Biłozor & Adam Senetra, 2025. "Spatial Analysis of Medical Service Accessibility in the Context of Quality of Life and Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Olsztyn County, Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-20, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6687-:d:1707407
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6687/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6687/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moscelli, Giuseppe & Siciliani, Luigi & Gutacker, Nils & Cookson, Richard, 2018. "Socioeconomic inequality of access to healthcare: Does choice explain the gradient?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 290-314.
    2. Michael F. Goodchild & Robert P. Haining, 2004. "GIS and spatial data analysis: Converging perspectives," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Raymond J. G. M. Florax & David A. Plane (ed.), Fifty Years of Regional Science, pages 363-385, Springer.
    3. Jiulin Jiang & Zegen Wang & Zhiwei Yong & Jiwu He & Ye Yang & Ying Zhang, 2024. "Spatial Distribution and Accessibility Analysis of Primary School Facilities in Mega Cities: A Case Study of Chengdu," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-14, January.
    4. R. Ramesh, 2021. "How Equal is Access to Public Services? The Impact of Sociodemographic Background on Public Service Delivery in Sri Lanka," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 37(1), pages 7-29, March.
    5. Aurélie Mercier, 2016. "From spatial to social accessibility: How socio-economic factors can affect accessibility?," Working Papers halshs-01380412, HAL.
    6. Lall, Somik V. & Lundberg, Mattias K.A. & Shalizi, Zmarak, 2008. "Implications of alternate policies on welfare of slum dwellers: Evidence from Pune, India," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 56-73, January.
    7. Yuan Gao & Qingsong He & Yaolin Liu & Lingyu Zhang & Haofeng Wang & Enxiang Cai, 2016. "Imbalance in Spatial Accessibility to Primary and Secondary Schools in China: Guidance for Education Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-16, November.
    8. Páez, Antonio & Scott, Darren M. & Morency, Catherine, 2012. "Measuring accessibility: positive and normative implementations of various accessibility indicators," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 141-153.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicolai Fink Simonsen & Anne Sophie Oxholm & Søren Rud Kristensen & Luigi Siciliani, 2020. "What explains differences in waiting times for health care across socioeconomic status?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(12), pages 1764-1785, December.
    2. Hernæs, Øystein & Kverndokk, Snorre & Markussen, Simen & Øien, Henning, 2023. "When health trumps money: Economic incentives and health equity in the public provision of nursing homes in Norway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    3. Mengying Cui & David Levinson, 2018. "Accessibility analysis of risk severity," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 1029-1050, July.
    4. Daniel Oviedo & Lynn Scholl & Marco Innao & Lauramaria Pedraza, 2019. "Do Bus Rapid Transit Systems Improve Accessibility to Job Opportunities for the Poor? The Case of Lima, Peru," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-24, May.
    5. Wolfgang Frimmel & Felix Glaser, 2024. "Socio-Economic Inequality in Mortality and Healthcare Utilization: Evidence from Cancer Patients," Economics working papers 2024-14, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    6. Sharon Barnhardt & Erica Field & Rohini Pande, 2017. "Moving to Opportunity or Isolation? Network Effects of a Randomized Housing Lottery in Urban India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, January.
    7. Piotr Rosik & Julia Wójcik, 2022. "Transport Infrastructure and Regional Development: A Survey of Literature on Wider Economic and Spatial Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, December.
    8. Lin, Jen-Jia & Cheng, Yu-Chun, 2016. "Access to jobs and apartment rents," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 121-128.
    9. Han Yue & Tao Hu, 2021. "Geographical Detector-Based Spatial Modeling of the COVID-19 Mortality Rate in the Continental United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-16, June.
    10. An Huang & Yueqing Xu & Yibin Zhang & Longhui Lu & Chao Liu & Piling Sun & Qingguo Liu, 2022. "A Spatial Equilibrium Evaluation of Primary Education Services Based on Living Circle Models: A Case Study within the City of Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Maruyama Rentschler,Jun Erik & Salhab,Melda, 2020. "People in Harm's Way : Flood Exposure and Poverty in 189 Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9447, The World Bank.
    12. Karner, Alex & Niemeier, Deb, 2013. "Civil rights guidance and equity analysis methods for regional transportation plans: a critical review of literature and practice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 126-134.
    13. Chen, Wendong & Cheng, Long & Chen, Xuewu & Chen, Jingxu & Cao, Mengqiu, 2021. "Measuring accessibility to health care services for older bus passengers: A finer spatial resolution," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Lippi Bruni, Matteo & Ugolini, Cristina & Verzulli, Rossella, 2021. "Should I wait or should I go? Travelling versus waiting for better healthcare," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    15. Parikh, Priti & Fu, Kun & Parikh, Himanshu & McRobie, Allan & George, Gerard, 2015. "Infrastructure Provision, Gender, and Poverty in Indian Slums," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 468-486.
    16. Danli Yang & Jianwei Sun & Shuangyu Xie & Jing Luo & Fangqin Yang, 2025. "Spatial Accessibility Characteristics and Optimization of Multi-Stage Schools in Rural Mountainous Areas in China: A Case Study of Qixingguan District," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-20, April.
    17. Rezaei, Nazanin & Todd-Blick, Annika & Fujita, K. Sydny & Popovich, Natalie & Needell, Zachary & Poliziani, Cristian & Caicedo, Juan David & Guirado, Carlos & Spurlock, C. Anna, 2024. "At the nexus of equity and transportation modeling: Assessing accessibility through the Individual Experienced Utility-Based Synthesis (INEXUS) metric," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    18. Vale, David S. & Viana, Cláudia M. & Pereira, Mauro, 2018. "The extended node-place model at the local scale: Evaluating the integration of land use and transport for Lisbon's subway network," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 282-293.
    19. (Ato) Xu, Wangtu & Zhou, Jiangping & Yang, Linchuan & Li, Ling, 2018. "The implications of high-speed rail for Chinese cities: Connectivity and accessibility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 308-326.
    20. Jedwab, Remi & Christiaensen, Luc & Gindelsky, Marina, 2017. "Demography, urbanization and development: Rural push, urban pull and…urban push?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 6-16.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6687-:d:1707407. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.