Greece Region
Medium HALE and Life Expectancy
Medium Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #43
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.564
Practical Recommendation Summary: Creating an effective network of primary care services is one of the most urgent priorities to respond effectively to the needs of population and reduce overcrowding of emergency departments and unnecessary hospital admissions. Universal health coverage can be financially sustainable, to finance public spending.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Tackling poverty and socio-economic inequality. Boosting economic growth and investment to create jobs, improve the stability of public finances and provide an effective social safety net are crucial to help Greece recover from the profound social costs of the economic crisis.
● Ensuring adequate funding for the health system. Reducing the high levels of out-of-pocket spending on health is vital for affordable healthcare treatment. Greece should reduce corruption in healthcare and provide incentives for development of public-private partnership between healthcare providers.
● There is a need to develop this focus into longer-term strategic reforms that enhance efficiency while guaranteeing the delivery of health services and improving the overall quality of care.
● Create mechanisms that allow adequate planning and allocation of physical and human resources. Generally speaking, resources are unevenly distributed across the country, with a much higher concentration of health services and medical equipment in large cities compared with rural areas; private facilities are also largely located in urban centres.
● Addressing the challenge of weak primary care system. Public health services have taken a back seat in favour of the development of secondary care services. The services that are delivered rarely engage in prevention, health promotion, social care and rehabilitation. The primary care system has not been developed fully, and patients face problems with access, continuity of care and coordination as well as comprehensiveness of services. A mix of public and private providers delivers ambulatory care.
● Creating an effective network of primary care services. It is one of the most urgent priorities to respond effectively to the needs of population and reduce overcrowding of emergency departments and unnecessary hospital admissions. Universal health coverage can be financially sustainable, to finance public spending.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● The healthcare system is comprehensive and mixed and consist of social insurance and central financing of the National Health System.
● Relatively low infant mortality.
● The amount of doctors per population is high (6.3 per 1000 population).
● The amenable mortality has fallen steadily through the past decades.
● The healthcare system is generally accessible and the HAQ index is 90.4.
● Life expectancy is high and is 81.5 years.
Weaknesses:
● Healthcare system is unjustifiably centralized.
● The universal coverage for basic services is provided only for 83% of population.
● There are long-time delays and waiting times to see the doctor on day.
● Out-of-pocket spendings on health are 33% of the total spending on health in Greece.
● Poor continuity of care, excessive use of curative services, lack of preventive measures, low levels of satisfaction.
● Significant inequalities in the range and quality of health services.
Opportunities:
● There is a great amount of specialists in Greece per population.
● National strategy for primary health care. Greece should address chronic diseases, which account for 70% of our disease burden.
● The governmental programmes that are aimed to bring not only effectiveness to the healthcare but transparency and accountability through struggling with corruption and bureaucracy.
● Lots of deaths can be eliminated by the development of preventive care.
Threats:
● Economic instability, high level of real unemployment and inflation make healthcare affordable.
● Bad impact of the economic crisis has led to the decline in the healthcare expenditure. Per capita spending has fallen since 2009, when it was EUR 2 287, to EUR 1 650 in 2015.
● Ischaemic heart disease, stroke and lung cancer continue to have a major impact on mortality.
● 27% of adults smoked everyday in 2014 that is higher than in the EU.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● Children’s vaccination is very good and is above the 96%.
● Greece has one of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world, which is largely attributed to their diet, which includes lots of garlic, olive oil and red wine.
● Alcohol consumption has declined and is significantly below the EU average.
● There was a 14% decrease in deaths from cardiovascular diseases - the major causes for deaths in Greece.
● The hospitals in the more metropolitan areas are of excellent standards. Pharmacies and medications are of good quality with highly trained pharmacist. Medicines are also highly subsidized since only 25% of the actual cost of the prescriptions is charged. Emergency care is provided free of charge in public hospitals to anyone, regardless of nationality.
Weaknesses Analysis:
● There is a little coordination between primary care providers and hospital doctors.
● There are no regular cancer screening programmes in Greece
● Failed attempts of the government to reduce the smoking rates.
● There is a lack in quality assurance of the effective functioning of the healthcare in Greece.
● Two-thirds of the additionally predicted years for elders are spent with the disability.
● A quarter of 15-year-old adolescents is overweight or obese.
● Currently, only 59% of health spending is publicly funded that is greatly below the EU average indicator.
● Cancer causes 20% of death among women and 30% deaths among men.
● There was a notable increase in suicides after the start of economic crisis.
● Poor continuity of care, excessive use of curative services, lack of preventive measures, low levels of satisfaction and high out-of-pocket expenditures.
Medium Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #43
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.564
Practical Recommendation Summary: Creating an effective network of primary care services is one of the most urgent priorities to respond effectively to the needs of population and reduce overcrowding of emergency departments and unnecessary hospital admissions. Universal health coverage can be financially sustainable, to finance public spending.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Tackling poverty and socio-economic inequality. Boosting economic growth and investment to create jobs, improve the stability of public finances and provide an effective social safety net are crucial to help Greece recover from the profound social costs of the economic crisis.
● Ensuring adequate funding for the health system. Reducing the high levels of out-of-pocket spending on health is vital for affordable healthcare treatment. Greece should reduce corruption in healthcare and provide incentives for development of public-private partnership between healthcare providers.
● There is a need to develop this focus into longer-term strategic reforms that enhance efficiency while guaranteeing the delivery of health services and improving the overall quality of care.
● Create mechanisms that allow adequate planning and allocation of physical and human resources. Generally speaking, resources are unevenly distributed across the country, with a much higher concentration of health services and medical equipment in large cities compared with rural areas; private facilities are also largely located in urban centres.
● Addressing the challenge of weak primary care system. Public health services have taken a back seat in favour of the development of secondary care services. The services that are delivered rarely engage in prevention, health promotion, social care and rehabilitation. The primary care system has not been developed fully, and patients face problems with access, continuity of care and coordination as well as comprehensiveness of services. A mix of public and private providers delivers ambulatory care.
● Creating an effective network of primary care services. It is one of the most urgent priorities to respond effectively to the needs of population and reduce overcrowding of emergency departments and unnecessary hospital admissions. Universal health coverage can be financially sustainable, to finance public spending.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● The healthcare system is comprehensive and mixed and consist of social insurance and central financing of the National Health System.
● Relatively low infant mortality.
● The amount of doctors per population is high (6.3 per 1000 population).
● The amenable mortality has fallen steadily through the past decades.
● The healthcare system is generally accessible and the HAQ index is 90.4.
● Life expectancy is high and is 81.5 years.
Weaknesses:
● Healthcare system is unjustifiably centralized.
● The universal coverage for basic services is provided only for 83% of population.
● There are long-time delays and waiting times to see the doctor on day.
● Out-of-pocket spendings on health are 33% of the total spending on health in Greece.
● Poor continuity of care, excessive use of curative services, lack of preventive measures, low levels of satisfaction.
● Significant inequalities in the range and quality of health services.
Opportunities:
● There is a great amount of specialists in Greece per population.
● National strategy for primary health care. Greece should address chronic diseases, which account for 70% of our disease burden.
● The governmental programmes that are aimed to bring not only effectiveness to the healthcare but transparency and accountability through struggling with corruption and bureaucracy.
● Lots of deaths can be eliminated by the development of preventive care.
Threats:
● Economic instability, high level of real unemployment and inflation make healthcare affordable.
● Bad impact of the economic crisis has led to the decline in the healthcare expenditure. Per capita spending has fallen since 2009, when it was EUR 2 287, to EUR 1 650 in 2015.
● Ischaemic heart disease, stroke and lung cancer continue to have a major impact on mortality.
● 27% of adults smoked everyday in 2014 that is higher than in the EU.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● Children’s vaccination is very good and is above the 96%.
● Greece has one of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world, which is largely attributed to their diet, which includes lots of garlic, olive oil and red wine.
● Alcohol consumption has declined and is significantly below the EU average.
● There was a 14% decrease in deaths from cardiovascular diseases - the major causes for deaths in Greece.
● The hospitals in the more metropolitan areas are of excellent standards. Pharmacies and medications are of good quality with highly trained pharmacist. Medicines are also highly subsidized since only 25% of the actual cost of the prescriptions is charged. Emergency care is provided free of charge in public hospitals to anyone, regardless of nationality.
Weaknesses Analysis:
● There is a little coordination between primary care providers and hospital doctors.
● There are no regular cancer screening programmes in Greece
● Failed attempts of the government to reduce the smoking rates.
● There is a lack in quality assurance of the effective functioning of the healthcare in Greece.
● Two-thirds of the additionally predicted years for elders are spent with the disability.
● A quarter of 15-year-old adolescents is overweight or obese.
● Currently, only 59% of health spending is publicly funded that is greatly below the EU average indicator.
● Cancer causes 20% of death among women and 30% deaths among men.
● There was a notable increase in suicides after the start of economic crisis.
● Poor continuity of care, excessive use of curative services, lack of preventive measures, low levels of satisfaction and high out-of-pocket expenditures.