Despite all juridical-legal in the SUS apparatus that have been created to improve the population's access to health services, there are still many barriers that interfere in the concretion of the universal access to health care in Brazil. This study aims to analyze the factors which influence the access to primary care health services in Recife from the perspective of its professionals and users. This is a case study which used as data collection technique the semi structured interviews conducted with 46 informants. Bardin's content analysis was the method adopted to work with the data. The main barriers that emerged from the research were the underfunding of services, insufficient coverage family health strategy (FHS), and insufficient supply of professionals. Nevertheless, the most significant facilitating issues were: the existence of the FHS, the informal communication and the work of the community health agent. We conclude that even with the implementation of the FHS and the benefits generated, there is still the need for the strategy to be a management priority, with greater investments in the structure and organization of services offered to users in order for them to have universal access and equitable primary care services in the city of Recife.
health services accessibility; Family Health Strategy; primary health care
