Abstract
Introduction: Healthcare service is an essential determinant to population health. This qualitative case study aims to explore health service users’ perspective of effective health services delivery and the current challenges affecting the management and delivery of health services at a primary healthcare facility in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Methods: Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews with key informants (KI) representing academics, undergraduate students, administration staff, patients and healthcare workers. The interviews covered three main areas: users’ views of effective health services, current challenges affecting effective planning and management of primary healthcare services, and interventions to improve health services planning and delivery. Results: The services users associated effective health services delivery with increased availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality healthcare. Many factors exist to influence the effective planning and delivery of health services. The results show that health systems and personal factors have a major influence on the planning and health services delivery. Conclusion: The findings from this study call for an evaluation of the current healthcare system, particularly at the primary healthcare level, as the primary point of contact to the formal healthcare system, and the need for developing a contextual model of healthcare that meet the needs of the service users. We concluded that if health services users’ perspectives are considered in health policy, the local community may experience significant improvement in health status.