HSE one of the most cost-effective in the world

Anita Blow · 12-05-2014 03:29PM #1

A report by the Royal Society of Medicine into 18 developed countries has found that the Irish health system saves the most lives per Euro spent than any other country in the developed world. It just beat out the UK, and was 3 times more cost effective than the US.
Paper free to read here- http://url.ie/rfcx

What does everyone think of this? It's interesting to note because it comes at a time in the UK when the NHS is being dismantled & privatised under the pretence of the Conservative government that the NHS performs worse than other health services, but this report outlines the exact opposite.

Ireland managed this with a healthcare expenditure just 7.1% of GDP, below the average of 7.4%. Definitely think we need to increase our healthcare spend to this average but only if it's combined with a slashing of middle & upper management.

D1stant · 12-05-2014 03:31PM

In the immortal words of Victor Meldrew... I don't believe it

I Heart Internet · 12-05-2014 03:33PM

Interesting. I can see it raising guffaws, but we should take on board an source of info that challenges our own preconceived notions (that the HSE waists money).

RoboRat · 12-05-2014 03:33PM

Once you get into the system its great, its getting in that is the problem...

conorhal · 12-05-2014 03:33PM

Who did the audit for them, Kevin Cardiff?

Anita Blow · 12-05-2014 03:35PM

That's true. There were reports recently the demonstrated the budget cuts to the HSE over the past 5 years resulted in a leaner health service. IE- Waiting lists & patient stats were improving while there was less money to be spent. But that by the beginning of this year, that had bottomed out and now budget cuts were beginning to damage services with waiting lists back on the rise.

We could definitely free up some money to be spent on frontline services without having to increase the budget if FG/Labour had the balls to make the cuts necessary to admin in the HSE.

MRnotlob606 · 12-05-2014 03:38PM

lets be happy about this

Karl Stein · 12-05-2014 03:40PM

I Heart Internet wrote: »

(that the HSE waists money).

The belt tightening has helped reduce waist.

/runs

suicide_circus · 12-05-2014 03:43PM

Good news story

mickydoomsux · 12-05-2014 03:47PM

MRnotlob606 wrote: »

lets be happy about this

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!111111!!!!!! I despise things becoming demonstrably better!!!!!

This happened under the current government who are all very bad mans for trying to fix our broken country.

Any success stories are obviously lies.

Jawgap · 12-05-2014 03:48PM

Having experienced both the HSE and the NHS, I'd wouldn't believe that for a minute.

Clinically, the level of care in hospitals is comparable, but in terms of administrative efficiency and community health the HSE is still in the dark ages.......imo

The Backwards Man · 12-05-2014 03:58PM

How are the figures massaged? I mean, arrived at? Slip of the tongue there!

Anita Blow · 12-05-2014 04:02PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

How are the figures massaged? I mean, arrived at? Slip of the tongue there!

It's a peer-reviewed journal in the UK. The methodology used in the paper is free to see if you'd like to pick flaws there.

I'd more readily believe a foreign reputable journal than some of the posters here who'd still bitch and complain even if the HSE cured cancer.

pickarooney · 12-05-2014 04:03PM

Would a lot this be explained by the fact that Irish people won't waste time and money going to a doctor for trivial complaints like rabies and decapitation?

The Backwards Man · 12-05-2014 04:05PM

Anita Blow wrote: »

It's a peer-reviewed journal in the UK. The methodology used in the paper is free to see if you'd like to pick flaws there.

I'd more readily believe a foreign reputable journal than some of the posters here who'd still bitch and complain even if the HSE cured cancer.

I'm not doubting the report, I just find it hard to believe. There must be some serious wasting of money in other countries.

I Heart Internet · 12-05-2014 04:07PM

pickarooney wrote: »

Would a lot this be explained by the fact that Irish people won't waste time and money going to a doctor for trivial complaints like rabies and decapitation?

"If the leprosy doesn't clear up before the Christmas break, I'll make an appointment!"

jimgoose · 12-05-2014 04:08PM

I Heart Internet wrote: »

"If the leprosy doesn't clear up before the Christmas break, I'll make an appointment!"

Reminds me of Dylan Moran after coughing on stage: "I have... something. It'll clear up. Might take me with it, but we'll see." :pac:

Boombastic · 12-05-2014 04:09PM

if you kill enough patients the numbers and money with sort themselves out

mickydoomsux · 12-05-2014 04:10PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I'm not doubting the report, I just find it hard to believe.

You do realize how idiotic that statement is, right?

darkpagandeath · 12-05-2014 04:11PM

pickarooney wrote: »

Would a lot this be explained by the fact that Irish people won't waste time and money going to a doctor for trivial complaints like rabies and decapitation?

Does your GP not just recommend taking antibiotics for things like that.

Banjo String · 12-05-2014 04:12PM

Father Fintan Stack will be playin the jungle beats tonight in celebration.

The Backwards Man · 12-05-2014 04:14PM

mickydoomsux wrote: »

You do realize how idiotic that statement is, right?

Not really no. I also find it hard to believe that not everyone in the world is as cool, calm, collected and awesome as I am, but I don't doubt that either.

Riskymove · 12-05-2014 04:15PM

Anita Blow wrote: »

What does everyone think of this?

Like every report based on statistics, you can always see things that stand out.

This is about how countries have done in reducing mortality rates from 1980 to 2005

given the advances in the period, the longer life expectancy and the level of expenditure and importantly, the fact that ireland had one of the highest mortality rates to begin with....it is not surprising that we would have done very well in reducing mortality rates

given the epxenditure is based on 1980-2005, for a lot of this period Ireland had little money and a low GDP which was then followed by a shorter period of high GDP and expenditure so figures can be skewed

it would also ignore the last decade of expenditure in health

I'm not doubting the report, I just find it hard to believe. There must be some serious wasting of money in other countries.

exactly the problem here, the report contains no breakdown analysis of spend whatsoever

shruikan2553 · 12-05-2014 04:18PM

Anita Blow wrote: »

It's a peer-reviewed journal in the UK. The methodology used in the paper is free to see if you'd like to pick flaws there.

I'd more readily believe a foreign reputable journal than some of the posters here who'd still bitch and complain even if the HSE cured cancer.

They could cure cancer but you'll be dead by the time you reach the top of the list.

12-05-2014 04:19PM

The NHS and HSE have similar levels of funding per capita yet the NHS covers prescription costs and it's cheaper to visit a GP. So I'm not too sure what kind of statistical chicanery is required to make the HSE even comparable to the NHS in terms of value for money.

Stheno · 12-05-2014 04:21PM

Deleted User wrote: »

The NHS and HSE have similar levels of funding per capita yet the NHS covers prescription costs and it's cheaper to visit a GP. So I'm not too sure what kind of statistical chicanery is required to make the HSE even comparable to the NHS in terms of value for money.

This is what I was thinking, similarly in the US you've to pay astronomical amounts for healthcare

12-05-2014 04:24PM

Stheno wrote: »

This is what I was thinking, similarly in the US you've to pay astronomical amounts for healthcare

You're agreeing that it makes no sense that the HSE could possibly be as good value as the NHS? Just checking :P

Have to wonder how they could actually evaluate the US "system" since they have no central admin like the HSE or NHS.

gctest50 · 12-05-2014 04:30PM

Its for 1979–2005 - take a bow everyone who worked there a decade ago

Lots can happen in a few years, the Netherlands has one of the the most liberal abortion laws in the world ( which is a great thing ) :

......for a long time, the Netherlands also reported one of the world's lowest abortion rates. That low incidence abruptly began to rise in the mid-1990s.
Between 1996 and 2003, the abortion rate in the Netherlands jumped by 31% over seven years.

One reason why :

What changed? The Guttmacher Institute, the leading source of data on reproductive health worldwide, cites "a growing demand for terminations from women in ethnic minority groups residing in the country." Well over half of all abortions performed on teenagers in the Netherlands are performed on girls of non-Dutch origins.

12-05-2014 04:30PM

Just had a look actually, apparently the NHS receives funding equivalent to £1,960 per person in the UK while in the last budget here spending was €13.3 billion which works out at about €2,900 per person. That's better value?

Wicklowrider · 12-05-2014 04:32PM

mickydoomsux wrote: »

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!111111!!!!!! I despise things becoming demonstrably better!!!!!

This happened under the current government who are all very bad mans for trying to fix our broken country.

Any success stories are obviously lies.

" Setting Nineteen Western countries’ mortality rates compared
between 1979 –2005." ?

celticcrash · 12-05-2014 04:36PM

Cost effective, LOL

I went in to Limerick University Hospital with chest pains.
After an ECG and other tests, the doctor told me the results would be posted out to the consultant. I said, dont you mean internal post. No external post.

So my results have to be brought down to the mailing office in the hospital.
Than collected to be brought to Cork for sorting. than brought back up to Limerick General PO to be sorted, than a post man will deliver the results back to the Limerick University Hospital to be delivered to the consultant.

Only in Ireland.

HSE one of the most cost-effective in the world

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