Dunedin’s free clinic (‘Free Clinic’) is a not-for-profit primary health care clinic that opened in January 2010, providing medical, nursing, counselling and occupational therapy services at no charge to patients. These researchers distributed a written survey to waiting room patients at the Free Clinic and a nearby traditional (fee-charging) general practice clinic. Patient records were accessed to determine health services utilisation rates at both clinics and the discounting rate at the traditional clinic. Surveys were completed and returned by 126 patients at the Traditional Clinic and by 65 at the Free Clinic. Significantly more respondents at the Free Clinic identified as Māori as compared with those at the Traditional Clinic (24.1% vs 9.2%; p=0.011). At the Traditional Clinic, nearly half the respondents had no deprivation characteristics and 13.3% had ≥5 deprivation characteristics (p<0.001). In contrast, 65.5% of the Free Clinic participants had ≥5 deprivation characteristics, and only 2% had no deprivation characteristics. Moreover, all enrolled Free Clinic respondents held a Community Services Card, compared with 35.0% of the Traditional Clinic participants. The NZDep2006 profile of the Traditional Clinic participants mirrored that of Dunedin residents, with 15.8% residing in NZDep2006 quintile 5, as compared with 41.4% of participants at the Free Clinic (p<0.001). Emergency department presentation rates were high for Free Clinic patients, despite free primary care access and high general practitioner consultation rates. Among Traditional Clinic respondents, 31.7% reported deferring health care because of cost in the previous 12 months. The equivalent figure for Free Clinic respondents was 63.8%.
