Table 1.
Characteristics of providers
| All providers | Public sector providers | Private sector providers | P value* | |
| Panel A: facility sample | ||||
| Average no of patients waiting | 7.77 (8.58) | 14.57 (8.87) | 2.81 (3.41) | 0.000 |
| Average waiting time (min) | 99.60 (89.06) | 176.15 (72.90) | 43.71 (49.38) | <0.001 |
| Location | ||||
| Located in Q1 (poorest) | 0.12 (0.32) | 0.21 (0.41) | 0.05 (0.22) | <0.001 |
| Located in Q2 ward | 0.14 (0.35) | 0.18 (0.39) | 0.12 (0.33) | |
| Located in Q3 ward | 0.12 (0.32) | 0.15 (0.36) | 0.09 (0.29) | |
| Located in Q4 ward | 0.28 (0.45) | 0.29 (0.46) | 0.27 (0.45) | |
| Located in Q5 (richest) | 0.35 (0.48) | 0.18 (0.39) | 0.47 (0.50) | |
| N (facilities) | 173 | 73 | 100 | |
| Panel B: interviewed provider sample | ||||
| Location | ||||
| Located in Q1 ward (poorest) | 0.12 (0.33) | 0.26 (0.44) | 0.05 (0.22) | 0.002 |
| Located in Q2 ward | 0.18 (0.38) | 0.23 (0.43) | 0.15 (0.36) | |
| Located in Q3 ward | 0.06 (0.25) | 0.07 (0.26) | 0.06 (0.24) | |
| Located in Q4 ward | 0.28 (0.45) | 0.26 (0.44) | 0.29 (0.46) | |
| Located in Q5 ward (richest) | 0.36 (0.48) | 0.19 (0.39) | 0.45 (0.50) | |
| Male | 0.48 (0.50) | 0.19 (0.39) | 0.63 (0.48) | <0.001 |
| Age | 51.83 (12.60) | 48.44 (12.84) | 53.61 (12.18) | 0.029 |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| Black or coloured | 0.50 (0.50) | 1.00 (0.00) | 0.24 (0.43) | <0.001 |
| White | 0.31 (0.47) | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.48 (0.50) | |
| Indian/Other | 0.18 (0.39) | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.28 (0.45) | |
| Doctor | 0.67 (0.47) | 0.05 (0.21) | 1.00 (0.00) | <0.001 |
| No of patients (previous week) | 42.84 (123.51) | 82.56 (205.46) | 22.01 (13.69) | 0.009 |
| N (individual providers) | 125 | 43 | 82 | |
For the facility sample data, on average waiting time is based on information collected by SPs. We used the Gauteng city region quality of life survey to construct socio-economic quintiles of local areas (ward), and allocated each provider to a quintile according to their location. Additional data in the sample of interviewed provider (panel B) come from provider interviews undertaken as part of the study with the subset of doctors who agreed to the interview, after all SPs had completed their visits.
*The p value is based on t-test for means and χ2 tests for proportions comparing the private and public sector characteristics.
SP, standardised patient.