Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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47. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the place of Ireland on the European Health Consumer Index 2018; his further views on this ranking of the health system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20495/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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This index has been published since 2005 by the Sweden-based think-tank Health Consumer Powerhouse (HCP) Ltd, a private Swedish company. It is based on a combination of public statistics, patient surveys and independent research conducted by the author.

The author has ranked Ireland 22^ndplace out of 35 countries, with 669 points out of 1,000. Last year, Ireland ranked 24^thout of 35 countries with 630 points out of 1,000.

The report has highlighted poor performance in the area of accessibility which covers, inter alia, ED waiting times and time to major elective surgery. The report does, however, highlight a reduction in resistant strains of hospital-acquired infections in Irish hospitals.

While several of the findings do match up with known national and international data, there has been international debate about how the data for this survey is collected, analysed and compared with other countries. No discussion with recognised bodies such as Eurostat, OECD or WHO seems to have taken place regarding basic definitions and choice of indicators for this report.

Other ranking systems also exist such as the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index 2019, which ranked Ireland 20th out of 169 countries according to factors that contribute to overall health.