Identifying gaps in the healthcare market

Ireland’s healthcare system currently faces a wide range of challenges, many of which are connected to access issues. It is forecast that these issues will be exacerbated as Ireland’s population continues to grow and age.

An ageing population is characterised by increased healthcare needs and complexities. As life expectancy rises, so does the prevalence of chronic illnesses and age-related conditions, pressurising healthcare resources and infrastructure. When trends around healthcare access and usage are analysed over the past ten years we can see an increasing demand for wellness and prevention care and a clear need for novel approaches to care.

The recently published CSO data confirms that Ireland has a population of 5.15 million people, 806,000 of which are over the age of 65. This number is expected to double between now and 2050, putting increased pressure on the healthcare system.

For Dr Nick Young, group healthcare officer, VHI the biggest challenge facing healthcare is the rapidly ageing population and associated growing demand on services. “If these trends and existing approaches to service provision continue, the sustainability of Ireland’s healthcare system will come into sharp focus in the years and decades to come.”

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Established 65 years ago and with more than 1.2 million members, VHI is well-equipped to foresee the future challenges of Ireland’s healthcare system. Young says: “VHI has always sought to proactively anticipate and respond to trends in healthcare and in recent years, we have expanded our services to focus on prevention and wellness for our members.”

“We are looking at where there are gaps and exploring how we can facilitate better care for our patients,” he says. “Private medical insurance in Ireland has largely been focused on inpatient medical care until now, but we definitely need to move into community care and the preventative care space in alignment with Sláintecare.”

Such population health initiatives include screening programmes to capture members who are at risk of chronic disease, and more chronic disease management programmes. “We are looking at prevention and at proactively managing chronic disease. If we can provide early intervention there is a better outcome for the individual and the healthcare system as a whole,” Young says. “That echoes what the HSE is doing and I think it is the right approach.”

The health insurer recently introduced electronic health records (EHR) for its members which centralises clinical records and healthcare interactions, allowing for continuity of care across VHI’s health and wellbeing network. Young sees this as a crucial step as the march to digitalisation continues.

“This connects our services, from urgent care to physiotherapy to orthopaedic clinics to women’s health clinics. We are at the forefront of this digitisation which is key as we come into an age of AI-assisted tools. Without electronic health records, you are not going to be able to avail of those tools.”

The EHR is also a stepping stone to increased collaboration across different areas of the health landscape, he adds. “It enables VHI clinicians to provide member’s GPs with information on a member’s health episode, ensuring GP’s have details of any healthcare developments outside of their care. This gives us the capacity to build pathways and to collaborate. A key challenge for healthcare in Ireland in general is that we have a somewhat fragmented system so the more we are able to build platforms that help us collaborate across services and institutions, between primary and secondary care but also public and private systems, the better for everyone.”

He also points out that the insurer’s new dermatology service, developed in partnership with AllView Healthcare, as a good example of how VHI is using technology and partnerships to tackle known bottlenecks within the health service. With dermatology waiting times notoriously lengthy across both public and private health sectors, it has sought to address this by introducing a service that offers rapid access to care and treatment for skin conditions such as acne, lesions and melanomas within weeks.

This is a digital-first service, notes Young. “Members can upload images of their particular skin concern on to a digital platform where they are then reviewed by a consultant and we also have GP specialists who support the care journey.” Around 60 per cent of patients are managed virtually but if a procedure is required, this is typically carried out at VHI’s 360 Health Centre in Carrickmines, Dublin 18.

Young is keen to see enhanced collaboration between the insurer and the public health service, for the benefit of all patients in Ireland.

“The growing and ageing population equates to a greater demand for services across all areas of the health service,” he says. “We need to collaborate and understand where the system can be synergistic rather than working in parallel.”

To find out more about VHI Dermatology visit vhi.ie. You can meet Nick Young of the VHI at the upcoming Future Health Summit on May 29-30th. See futurehealthsummit.com for details