Majority want A&E units in all counties- survey

A large majority of people believe A&E and acute hospital services should be provided in every county, according to a new survey commissioned by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Insight 07, a large-scale study carried out by Lansdowne Market Research and the School of Public Health and Population Science at UCD, found that 96 per cent thought there should be A&E departments in every county. About 84 per cent thought acute hospitals should be similarly spread across the State.

However, a majority (76 per cent) also said they would favour treatment in a specialist service if needed, even if it means concentrating services in fewer centres.

The survey, which is the largest of its kind, drew on more than 3,500 interviews which were conducted over four months last winter.

It found that, in general, there was strong satisfaction with the health services. Sixty-four per cent of inpatients rated their experience as excellent or very good, with only 9 per cent saying their experience was fair or poor.

Of outpatients, 58 per cent said their experience was excellent or very good. However, levels of satisfaction with A&E services was lower than other categories.

Minister for Health Mary Harney said the study showed that "the experience of those who have used the service is very different from the public perception.

"When people have a positive experience, not just in health but in all walks of life, we don't tend to talk about it. The things we tend to talk about are the things that go wrong," she said. "Somehow, when it comes to the health service, it's the views of the minority that are heard," she said.

Ms Harney also commented on the "inconsistency" between a desire for specialist care and local services. "If it becomes a choice between the local and the best, I know what people will choose," she said.

Levels of trust in health professionals were also high, with 78 per cent of inpatients, 67 per cent of outpatients, 86 per cent of GP patients and 78 per cent of other community services patients expressing complete trust in the medic they encountered.

The survey found that the GP was the most frequently consulted point of the health service and was also the best rated. About 84 per cent of GP patients said their experience was excellent or very good, while 90 per cent would recommend the service to someone else.

Prof Brendan Drumm, chief executive of the HSE, said the results showed "the health service is getting it right for most of the people, most of the time".

"The results are based on the direct experience of people who have used the health service rather than opinions. They are therefore a true reflection of how the majority, rather than the vocal minority, view the health service," he said.

Prof Drumm accepted that there were "individual cases where our services fail to provide care up to the standard we would want" but said the HSE was working hard to address these.

"To present them as representative of the whole health service is clearly unfair to patients, staff and the community as a whole," he added.

The research found that one-third of people do not know what the HSE is, and 34 per cent were not aware of the Department of Health and Children.

A clear majority (89 per cent) agreed or strongly agreed with the implementation of the smoking ban in workplaces in March 2004, and 59 per cent supported the idea of a total site ban in healthcare facilities, including outdoor grounds. However, total smoker rates at 29 per cent of the population have not fallen since the introduction of the ban.