Hypertensive patients in primary health care: access, connection and care involved in spontaneous demands.

Objective To assess the impacts of inclusion of care for spontaneous demands in the treatment of hypertensive patients in primary health care. Methods Third generation qualitative assessment survey conducted with 16 workers in a Primary Care Health Unit (PHCU) of the city of Fortaleza, state of Ceara, in the period between July and September of 2015. To collect data, systematic field observation and semi-structured interviews were used, and the stages of thematic content analysis were adopted for data analysis. Results Participants revealed that access, connection and care are fundamental to the treatment of hypertension. However, they said that the introduction of free access for spontaneous demands compromised the flow of care in the hypertension programs. Conclusion A dichotomy between the practice of care recommended by health policies and the one existing in the reality of PHCUs was shown, causing evident losses to the care of hypertensive patients in primary care.