HEALTH POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND HEALTHCAREACCESSIBILITY IN UNIVERSITY OF UYO TEACHING HOSPITAL,UYO, AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines the effect of health policy implementation on healthcare accessibility in University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. It was necessitated by persistent barriers to tertiary healthcare access, including high out-of-pocket payments, long waiting time, weak referral coordination, uneven service readiness and insufficient protection for poor and vulnerable patients. The study was conducted to ascertain the extent to which financial protection and health insurance
policy implementation, service-readiness policy implementation and referral/digital patient-flow policy implementation affect healthcare accessibility in UUTH. Andersen's behavioural model of health service was adopted as the theoretical framework. Survey and documentary time-series designs were adopted. The units of analysis were patients, clinical staff and administrative staff in UUTH, while secondary data were sourced from hospital service records, published health-system reports and peer-reviewed studies. Hypotheses were tested using multiple linear regressions at p < .05, while a comparative before-and-after time-series analysis was used to compare the pre-policy-intensification period (2016-2020) with the post-policy-intensification period (2021-2025). The findings revealed that financial protection, service readiness and referral/digital patient-flow reforms significantly enhanced healthcare accessibility in UUTH. The before-and-after trend showed improvement in outpatient attendance, insured patient visits, reduced waiting time and referral completion after policy intensification. The study concluded that health
policy implementation is a major pathway for improving equitable access to tertiary care in Uyo. It recommended stronger health insurance enrolment, sustained equipment maintenance, digital appointment systems and referral coordination with primary and secondary facilities.