A Multi-Methodological Approach for Healthcare Facilities Location Decision Problem

Site selection for urban facilities is a crucial topic in planning decision processes for the several side effects they produce and the multiple criteria involved, especially for healthcare facilities. Health care provision policies generally neglect to address the distribution of health care facilities within cities, entrusting every time the choices to different categories of stakeholders. Starting from a cross-disciplinary deep literature review across different research fields, the research proposes a multi-methodological approach for addressing decisions about healthcare facilities’ location. More in deep a Multi-Criteria-Spatial Decision Support Systems (MC-SDSS) has been defined for providing an integrated knowledge about territory and the explicit consideration of the spatial dimension of this kind of decision problems. This study explores the potential use of GIS for modeling the spatial distribution and accessibility of hospitals in the city of Milan (Italy). Several digital and non-digital data have been collected and transformed into GIS data by spatial analysis tools and functions. Based on this analysis, it has been possible to provide suitability maps according to three main thematic issues: Functional quality, Location quality, Environmental quality. According these preliminary results, it possible to identify the need for improvements in the health care delivery system, including the identification of new facilities suitable sites. The combibed use of GIS technology and MCDA seems to support health care planners and policy makers for effective planning and resource allocation.