Health investment management based on patient satisfaction with the primary care doctor in the Spanish national health service context. A gender perspective

Background: To determine which key indicators of the Spanish NHS influence the patient satisfaction with respect to the primary care doctor.In order to help improve the management of the system's financial resources.Method: A means test was applied to compare the satisfaction of the male patient and the female patient.Subsequently, both satisfaction measures were related, by a multiple linear regression, with 16 explanatory variables, corresponding to each of the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain, for the period 2005-2016.Results: The models explained 51.3% of men's satisfaction with the primary care doctor in the Spanish NHS, and 54.1% of women's satisfaction the variables with a positive and significant influence were the number of specialists and primary care doctors, the number of CT equipment, the use of hemodialysis equipment and in-hospital mortality.On the other hand, the number of operating theatres, the length of hospital stay, the use of CT equipment and the expenditure on pharmacy influence negative and significantly.Conclusion: Health policies should increase the number of doctors and specialized treatment and diagnosis equipment, inform the patient about the functioning of such equipment to reduce fear of its use, facilitate hospital treatment, monitor the effectiveness of surgery and moderate the prescription of drugs, facilitating the use of alternative methods.The aim is to increase patient satisfaction.