Bed closures, lengthening waiting-lists, cancelled operations - what happens to the patients who cannot access the hospital services they need?
It is general practitioners and other primary-care providers who pick up the slack. This is especially the case in socially deprived areas, whether in the South or Northern Ireland, where private healthcare is not an option.
Today, The Irish Times takes a look at two general practices; one in Belfast, the other in Dublin. We examine how the two health services compare in their ability to look after the medical needs of relatively deprived populations, North and South.
Waiting-lists in orthopaedics, the speciality that performs hip and knee replacements and looks after back and other musculo-skeletal problems, are especially long. We look at initiatives planned in both health services to tackle the problem of chronic orthopaedic waiting-times.
There is much evidence to suggest that social deprivation impacts negatively on a person's health. Having a low income, living in poor housing in a difficult environment and leaving education early all place the individual at an increased risk of ill-health.
We look at inequalities in healthcare that condemn those living in deprivation to higher levels of cancer, infant mortality and heart and lung disease, and examine some projects aimed at combating their negative impact.
