The Irish health system has some of the longest waiting lists, lowest hospital bed capacity and highest bed occupancy among western European countries, according to new research.lays bare the long-term challenges facing the healthcare system. And it comes as the service struggles to cope with a fourth wave of infections in the 20-month coronavirus pandemic.
The Republic has some of the longest waiting times in the EU15 for various procedures. It had 622,963 people waiting for outpatient procedures last January, when in-patient and day case waiting-list numbers were 81,456. “While healthcare capital investment makes up approximately 10 per cent of the overall health budget, its impact on the capacity to deliver care in a region or service area is far greater,” stated the report.A separate report on strategic considerations on the future of investment in healthcare found a possible lack of regional diversity in investment, with Dublin accounting for 47 per cent followed by Galway with the next greatest share at 7 per cent, Cork with 6.5 per cent, Limerick with 5.
It concluded that more than €4 billion, or 42 per cent of the planned investment, is at the “appraisal” stage where uncertainty is greatest “due to the absence of a detailed brief and market engagement. Therefore, the uncertainty around this €4 billion estimate is large and presents risks in the form of noise” – unwanted variability in professional judgments – “underestimation bias [and] optimism bias.”, the report notes.