Ireland ranked 13th in European health index

IRELAND’S health service suffers from a “marketing problem” and is better than the public thinks it is, a new report has claimed.

Ireland has moved up two places in the Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) since last year and now ranks 13th out of 33 European countries.

When the index started three years ago, Ireland was ranked 28th out of 29 European countries surveyed.

The latest EHCI report, published yesterday, praised the establishment of the Health Service Executive (HSE), which it described as a “much needed reform” that has contributed to the upward trend.

However, it said it was “particularly striking” that while HSE reforms were having a tangible outcome, the response from patients’ organisations was still negative.

EHCI director Dr Arne Bjornberg said: “Ireland has been climbing steadily in the EHCI. However, the Irish healthcare system seems to have a domestic ‘marketing’ problem.

“The responses to the patient organisation survey, which is part of the EHCI research, gives a much less positive picture than the official data.”

The Netherlands was once again the best performing country, with a total score of 875 out of a possible 1,000 points, followed by Denmark (819) and Iceland (811). Ireland’s score of 711 saw it finish ahead of the United Kingdom and Italy.

The average health spend in Ireland, at just under €3,500 per head, made it 10th overall on this index measurement, but the country ranked only 24th out of 33 countries in terms of value for money.

Ireland’s performance in relation to waiting times, while better than the UK, was ranked on a par with countries such as Croatia, Latvia and Bulgaria.

Of the seven health outcome measures, Ireland scored top marks in four of them – infant death per 1,000, cancer five-year survival, preventable years of life lost per 100,000 in the 0-69 age group, and percentage of diabetic population of patients with HbA1c (the amount of glycated haemoglobin in your blood) levels above 7.

Ireland finished joint 9th in terms of health outcomes, with a score of 202. Sweden, the country with the best outcomes, had a score of 250.