Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 202: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her views on the recent OECD Health Data Report 2006; the measures she intends to take to address the shortcomings identified in the report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25828/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Over the past 15 years, the publication OECD Health Data has been an authoritative source of comparable statistics on the health systems in OECD countries. Much of this work involves information on health expenditure and financial data. The most recent OECD Health Data Report 2006 contains data up to and including 2004. This shows that health spending in Ireland grew in real terms by an average of 9.1% per year between 1999 and 2004. The OECD average was 5.2%.

Total health spending accounted for 7.1% of GDP. When adjusted for GNP, this is about 8.9 per cent, exactly the OECD average. In terms of health spending per capita, Ireland spent 2,596 USD (adjusted for purchasing power parity) in 2004. This is over the OECD average of 2550 USD.

Nearly 80% of health spending is funded by government revenues, above the OECD average of 73%. This compares to a figure of 71.5% in the mid-1990s and reflects the Government's commitment to increase public health spending.

People in Ireland are living longer. In 2004 the average life expectancy was 78.3 years which is in line with the average across OECD countries. Infant mortality rates have fallen dramatically over the past few decades. The OECD figures show 4.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2004 the OECD average is 5.7.

With regard to medical manpower, the OECD Health Data 2006 Report shows 2.8 physicians per 1,000 population in Ireland in 2004. This is only slightly below the OECD average of 3.0 per 1,000 and is higher than countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. A Government initiative on medical education and training, announced in February of this year, will involve a more than doubling of the medical places from 305 to 725 over a four year period and the introduction of a new graduate entry programme for medicine from 2007 as part of the overall expansion of places.

With regard to nursing levels, Ireland records a very high density of practising nurses. The OECD has a ratio of just under 15 for Ireland which is much higher than the OECD average ratio of nurses per 1,000 people in the EU of 8.5. Since 1997 there has been an increase of almost 38% in the number of nurses employed in the public health service. This translates into an additional figure of just over 35,000 WTE nurses.

With regard to acute hospital beds, we have about 3 acute hospital beds per 1,000 population. This is lower than the OECD average of 4.1 per 1,000 population. The data for Ireland on the number of acute beds do not include the acute beds located in private hospitals in Ireland while some OECD countries include acute private hospital beds. Data on the number of acute beds per 1,000 population should not be considered in isolation from the average length of stay and the capacity for day case treatment. The OECD notes that the average length of stay in an acute bed in Ireland is below the OECD average. Since 1997, we are putting in place an average of 200 new acute beds per year, six times the level previously.

Funding has been provided to open an additional 900 in-patient beds/day places in public acute hospitals throughout the country. The Health Service Executive (HSE) has informed my Department that at the end of 2005, 818 of these beds/day places were in place and the remaining 82 beds/day places will come on stream over the coming months. The majority (80%) of additional beds/places provided so far are overnight in-patient beds.

In addition, a further 450 acute beds/day places are in various stages of planning and development under the Capital Investment Framework 2005-2009.

In July 2005, I announced an initiative to have private beds built on the campuses of public hospitals. The aim of this initiative is to enable up to 1,000 beds in public hospitals, which are currently used by private patients, to be re-designated for use by public patients. The HSE recently advertised for expressions of interest to construct private hospitals on the sites of 11 publicly funded hospitals.

The HSE National Service Plan 2006 gives details of 53 publicly funded acute hospitals with 12,574 in-patient beds and 1,197 day places, a total of 13,771 treatment places. In addition, there are 1,800 beds in private hospitals giving a total bed capacity in acute hospitals in Ireland of 15,571. This total number of beds equates to 3.8 beds per 1,000 population which compares favourably with other OECD countries.

Obesity and overweight are problems that are affecting millions of people all over the world. The Government recognises that the prevalence of overweight adults has increased dramatically, particularly over the past ten years and that remedial action must be taken to abate the problem. A National Taskforce on Obesity reported in 2005. Its report made comprehensive recommendations aimed at tackling overweight and obesity. The implementation of some of the health sector recommendations of the Taskforce report is already underway. The Health Service Executive has been allocated €3 million revenue funding, which is being used to provide Specialist Community Dietician and Physical Activity posts for obesity and weight management and for the development of Specialist Hospital Services for obesity treatment at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. My Department is currently developing a National Nutrition Policy which will provide strategic direction on nutrition for the next 10 years. The target group is young people, 0-18 years, and the priority actions are obesity and food poverty. A national consultation has taken place and the policy is due to be published later this year.

The OECD is an international leader in the development of performance evaluation tools which focus on assessments of health system performance. Its work includes policy reviews which assess performance and policy in the light of international experience and also cross-country comparisons of health expenditures, outputs and relative prices. This work contributes to countries achieving their required health policy goals as well as obtaining good value for money.