Ireland short on hospital beds: OECD

THE latest assessment of health spending across the OECD shows that while Ireland makes a comparatively average investment on the population’s wellbeing, the availability of beds is exceptionally low by international standards.

In 2009 — the latest year for which the OECD recorded figures here — Ireland was spending 9.5% of gross domestic product on health. That equated to €2,600 per head of population in the area. While that put us mid-table in the league of OECD countries it was significantly less than the €5,500 being spent per head in the US.

The authors of the “OECD Health Data 2011” report found that health spending per capita in Ireland increased strongly between 2000 and 2008 at a rate of 7.6% per year in real terms, a much faster growth rate than the OECD average of about 4% per year over that period.