in the last decade and particularly since the number of discharges per capita has tended to decrease and is now in line with the oecd average mentioned previously for example rural dwellers represent of the population but only of hospital attendances in the absence of additional information it not possible to determine whether or not this difference signals disparities in access for rural populations and if so whether the drivers are geographic cultural or infrastructural no data appear to be collected on access to care from the patient perspective which would aid in understanding the nature of and remedies for barriers to access overall it is not possible to determine with the available data whether patient income or socioeconomic characteristics play a role in reaching the hospital gates or being admitted uneven access probably also stems from the inability of facilities across regions to provide the same services