Primary Care Evaluation Tool

The characteristics of primary care vary from country to country, and there are different definitions of what constitutes primary care. However, a comprehensive or well-developed primary care system has the following characteristics:

“Primary care is that level of a health system that provides entry into the system for all new needs and problems, provides person-focused (not disease-oriented) care over time, provides care for all but very uncommon or unusual conditions, and coordinates or integrates care provided elsewhere or by others.”

The Primary Care Evaluation Framework from which the Primary Care Evaluation Tool (PCET) is developed, encompasses the four functions of a health care system (stewardship, financing, resource generation and service delivery), combined with the four key characteristics of primary care services that are part of service delivery, as derived from the above definition.