- Miquel Olivet: Departament de Salut, Direcció General de Planificació i Avaluació, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, España. molivet@catsalut.cat
This study describes the health services available in Catalonia, Spain as part of the situation analysis of the healthcare map, setting a starting point for the process of adapting services to the needs of the population. It also includes an analysis of the geographic accessibility to healthcare centres in the public health system, through the use of a geographic information system (GIS), with geo-referencing variables and calculations of travel times and distances. The principal results show, on one hand, the adaptation of the Catalan healthcare network to the distribution of the population, with a high level of geographic proximity of the services to the population, and a high degree of capillarity, principally in primary healthcare; and on the other hand, the importance that GIS tools and procedures may acquire in healthcare planning is highlighted.