Ireland Region
Medium HALE and Life Expectancy
High Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #13
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.683
Practical Recommendation Summary: It should be focused on the proportion of people who are healthy at all stages of life, reduction health inequalities, protection the public from threats to health and wellbeing.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Implementation of the universal healthcare coverage with a particular focus on the elder population needs. Plenty of households in Ireland prefer to buy additional health insurance to serve their medical needs and fulfill the gaps in universal healthcare coverage.
● Legislated incentives to provide transparent and readily available information on quality and cost. Hospitalists need to work collaboratively with their hospital systems to collect and widely report on quality and cost metrics for the patients they serve.
● Move to a life-course perspective in tackling the rising epidemic of “metabesity.” Ireland faces major challenges in curbing the negative health impacts of obesity, diabetes and an increasingly sedentary Western lifestyle.
Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in Ireland. The government should initiate strategies to improve the health of the nation, promote the importance of focusing on socio-demographic factors to ensure delivery of healthy newborns and decrease the burden of behavioral factors such as insufficient physical ability, overweight, alcohol abuse, smoking.
● Holding the healthcare industry to a higher standard. Ireland’s healthcare system should focus developing advanced treatments. Apart from advanced research, however, it is important to provide effective, low-cost treatments that work, triggering unnecessary treatments and higher costs down the line.
● Shift from curative to preventive medicine with emphasis on the P4 clinics and advanced technologies in treatments. Universal coverage is the healthcare’s dimension that government should improve and it can be concerned not primary care at the first point, but preventive one when adults starting from the early ages will look after their one health through regular check-ups. It will allow defining symptoms and illnesses’ markers on early stages to eliminate the diseases and leave people healthy and productive.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● One of the highest levels of the occupational rated for acute care beds (98%).
● The healthcare system in Ireland is comlex, public funded with developed private sector.
● Ireland’s spending on health per capita is more than 40% higher than the OECD average.
● Out-of-pocket payments occupy only 15.2% of total expenditures.
● Life expectancy in Ireland is high. It was 81.5 years in 2015 due to the reductions in premature deaths.
Weaknesses:
● High occupancy rate for acute beds can be the evidence of increase in waiting times
● Patients wait for more than three months for cataract surgery, knee and hip replacement in Ireland.
● There is a great amount of a avoidable hospital admissions because of COPD and asthma that Ireland can avoid.
● Ireland spends only 7.8% on health that is lower that the OECD.
● 19% of adults in Ireland were smoking regularly in 2015 year.
● 32% of adults had at least six drinks in single occasions per month in 2015.
Opportunities:
● Reforming healthcare system with focus on care delivery and extended access for effective prevention and advanced treatment.
● Medical Cards that function in the Irish healthcare system give an opportunity to visit GPs free of charge and provide reduced costs for medications.
● Gains in health status and this are paralleled by major investment in the health services.
● Explore the potential of new technologies within the healthcare industry.
Threats:
● Current economic crisis has led to the hospital investment postponement and shortage of the medical staff and reduction of healthcare expenditures.
● Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of the deaths in Ireland.
● There is no universal coverage for the primary care.
● Cancer is the leading cause of death for men (32% of incidents).
● Diseases of old age are major contributors to the slowdown in life expectancy improvements.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● Amenable mortality in Ireland in below the EU average. Also there is very low level of infant mortality and it is 3 deaths per 1000 population.
● The healthcare system in Ireland is relatively effective in treating life-threatening conditions.
● Life expectancy continues to rise as the result of the improved survival rates after the age of 65.
● Irish women at age 65 are predicted to live 21.0 years more and Irish men are predicted to live additional 18.4 years at the same age.
● The gap in life expectancy between men and women starts to narrow.
● More than 80% of population in Ireland report to be in good health.
● Developed network of preventive medicine.
Weaknesses Analysis:
● Spending on pharmaceuticals is among the highest in the Ireland and is 652 USD per capita.
● The prevalence of obesity in Ireland is above the EU average and it totals 19% of the all Irish population. There is an increase in the overweight among children.
● There are high levels of alcohol consumption per capita that counts for 10.6. Alcohol burden o contributes to death and disability through accidents, assault, violence, homicide and suicide. 20% of the population drinking nearly 2/3 of all alcohol.
● Only 47% of population have a coverage to visit the general practitioners.
● There is a low level density of doctors that causes long waiting periods and limited access for effective treatment.
● Other factors that contribute to life expectancy slowdown are rising obesity and inequality.
High Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #13
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.683
Practical Recommendation Summary: It should be focused on the proportion of people who are healthy at all stages of life, reduction health inequalities, protection the public from threats to health and wellbeing.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Implementation of the universal healthcare coverage with a particular focus on the elder population needs. Plenty of households in Ireland prefer to buy additional health insurance to serve their medical needs and fulfill the gaps in universal healthcare coverage.
● Legislated incentives to provide transparent and readily available information on quality and cost. Hospitalists need to work collaboratively with their hospital systems to collect and widely report on quality and cost metrics for the patients they serve.
● Move to a life-course perspective in tackling the rising epidemic of “metabesity.” Ireland faces major challenges in curbing the negative health impacts of obesity, diabetes and an increasingly sedentary Western lifestyle.
Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in Ireland. The government should initiate strategies to improve the health of the nation, promote the importance of focusing on socio-demographic factors to ensure delivery of healthy newborns and decrease the burden of behavioral factors such as insufficient physical ability, overweight, alcohol abuse, smoking.
● Holding the healthcare industry to a higher standard. Ireland’s healthcare system should focus developing advanced treatments. Apart from advanced research, however, it is important to provide effective, low-cost treatments that work, triggering unnecessary treatments and higher costs down the line.
● Shift from curative to preventive medicine with emphasis on the P4 clinics and advanced technologies in treatments. Universal coverage is the healthcare’s dimension that government should improve and it can be concerned not primary care at the first point, but preventive one when adults starting from the early ages will look after their one health through regular check-ups. It will allow defining symptoms and illnesses’ markers on early stages to eliminate the diseases and leave people healthy and productive.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● One of the highest levels of the occupational rated for acute care beds (98%).
● The healthcare system in Ireland is comlex, public funded with developed private sector.
● Ireland’s spending on health per capita is more than 40% higher than the OECD average.
● Out-of-pocket payments occupy only 15.2% of total expenditures.
● Life expectancy in Ireland is high. It was 81.5 years in 2015 due to the reductions in premature deaths.
Weaknesses:
● High occupancy rate for acute beds can be the evidence of increase in waiting times
● Patients wait for more than three months for cataract surgery, knee and hip replacement in Ireland.
● There is a great amount of a avoidable hospital admissions because of COPD and asthma that Ireland can avoid.
● Ireland spends only 7.8% on health that is lower that the OECD.
● 19% of adults in Ireland were smoking regularly in 2015 year.
● 32% of adults had at least six drinks in single occasions per month in 2015.
Opportunities:
● Reforming healthcare system with focus on care delivery and extended access for effective prevention and advanced treatment.
● Medical Cards that function in the Irish healthcare system give an opportunity to visit GPs free of charge and provide reduced costs for medications.
● Gains in health status and this are paralleled by major investment in the health services.
● Explore the potential of new technologies within the healthcare industry.
Threats:
● Current economic crisis has led to the hospital investment postponement and shortage of the medical staff and reduction of healthcare expenditures.
● Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of the deaths in Ireland.
● There is no universal coverage for the primary care.
● Cancer is the leading cause of death for men (32% of incidents).
● Diseases of old age are major contributors to the slowdown in life expectancy improvements.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● Amenable mortality in Ireland in below the EU average. Also there is very low level of infant mortality and it is 3 deaths per 1000 population.
● The healthcare system in Ireland is relatively effective in treating life-threatening conditions.
● Life expectancy continues to rise as the result of the improved survival rates after the age of 65.
● Irish women at age 65 are predicted to live 21.0 years more and Irish men are predicted to live additional 18.4 years at the same age.
● The gap in life expectancy between men and women starts to narrow.
● More than 80% of population in Ireland report to be in good health.
● Developed network of preventive medicine.
Weaknesses Analysis:
● Spending on pharmaceuticals is among the highest in the Ireland and is 652 USD per capita.
● The prevalence of obesity in Ireland is above the EU average and it totals 19% of the all Irish population. There is an increase in the overweight among children.
● There are high levels of alcohol consumption per capita that counts for 10.6. Alcohol burden o contributes to death and disability through accidents, assault, violence, homicide and suicide. 20% of the population drinking nearly 2/3 of all alcohol.
● Only 47% of population have a coverage to visit the general practitioners.
● There is a low level density of doctors that causes long waiting periods and limited access for effective treatment.
● Other factors that contribute to life expectancy slowdown are rising obesity and inequality.