Fears over nation’s low health ranking

The Irish Patients Association says Ireland’s lowly ranking in a Europe-wide healthcare study is of concern and indicates patients have been let down by successive governments.

On European healthcare, the Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) 2016 states: “It gets better with every year, saving lives, curing disease, and strengthening quality of life among the public. And in the era of Trumpism, largely, it is affordable to almost all Europeans.”

However, Ireland’s performance within the index, ranked 21st overall, prompts some withering criticism from the report’s authors.

According to Health Consumer Powerhouse, which published the study: “Ireland sticks to inefficient, unequal, semi-private funding.”

When it comes to the EHCI ranking of cost-efficient healthcare (“Bang for the buck”) rating, which shows the relation between money spent on public healthcare and the performance of healthcare systems, Ireland ranks 31st, with only Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania faring worse.

Observing that Irish patient organisations have been radically more pessimistic in their responses to the survey conducted as part of EHCI research for a number of years, it states: “Doubts must be raised on the validity of official statistics.”

As a result, it says EHCI 2016 had scored Ireland on patients’ versions of waiting times.

In the category of accessibility, Sweden — which otherwise performs well — Ireland, and Poland have the lowest score among the 35 countries.

“It is probably not a coincidence that for countries scoring low on accessibility, such as Sweden, the UK, and Ireland, this spills over into long A&E waiting times,” it states.

The authors also refer to the response of the HSE and the Department of Health following the EHCI 2015 report, about initiates to reduce healthcare waiting times to no more than 18 months for a specialist appointment.

“Even if and when that target is reached, it will still be the worst waiting time situation in Europe,” it states.

It also notes that Ireland has the highest percentage of population buying duplicate healthcare insurance, prompting the question over whether this should be regarded as “an extreme case of dissatisfaction with the public system, or simply as a technical solution for progressive taxation”.

It says changes to Ireland’s abortion laws are “a very minor step indeed towards abortion as a women’s right”.

In the category of pharmaceuticals, Ireland is among those ranked highest, alongside France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and there is also praise for Ireland’s performance in reducing MRSA.

Overall, the report says that copying the most successful European healthcare systems is a solution for underperforming countries.

Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association said he hopes the report would prove “a watershed moment”.

“The sum of this performance is that Irish patients have been let down by successive governments, who have not delivered timely and cost efficient access and importantly care to our most vulnerable when they need it,” he said.