Creating a Geographical Information Systems-based Spatial Profile for Exploring Health Services Supply and Demand

Problem statement: GIS has several techniques and functions that can be used for health services planning. Each one of these functions can be applied for different health related issues. Approach: The first part of this study reviews the relevant GIS functions that are used by health care planning researches and identifies the advantages of using these functions. The second part of the study focuses on presenting a GIS application created for the purpose of exploring the demand and supply on health services in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. A geodatabase is created for health services which covers the location and characteristics of health supply and demand. The created application covers three major analytical issues. The first issue is related to identifying the level of health services supply in Jeddah city. The location of health services is defined and classified based on the existing level of supply. The second issue of this application is related to defining the location and characteristics of health demand in Jeddah city. The locations of patients are defined and the actual catchment areas of health services are defined for this application. Accordingly, a demand based catchment area is created to define the growth and extent of health catchment area in Jeddah city. The third major analytical issue of this application is related to identifying the level of accessibility to health services in Jeddah city which is achieved using accessibility indicators scores. Results: The outputs of this application are useful for evaluating the location of health services supply and demand in Jeddah city. Conclusion: Using GIS in health care planning is recommended for health care planners in Jeddah city. The created application is considered as a spatial decision support system for health planners in Jeddah city.