THE current state of the health and wellbeing of the people of Ireland has been revealed in an annual report.
Published yesterday, the Department of Health’s 10th edition of Health in Ireland: Key Trends 2017 gives an insight into trends for demographics, population health, hospital and primary care, health service employment and expenditure.
The 2017 report uses trends from the last decade to highlight significant achievements that Ireland has made for key outcomes relating to the health and wellbeing of the population.
It reveals that Ireland enjoys the second highest fertility rate in the EU – coming just behind France, has increased life expectancy and has improved cancer survival rates.
It also highlights the challenges that persist in terms of the accessibility of timely healthcare.
Welcoming the report, Ireland’s Minister for Health, Simon Harris, said: “Health in Ireland Key Trends gives us the opportunity to assess the performance of the Irish health system, and highlights where things are going well, and where we need to improve. It also shows the importance of good quality data and evidence to health professionals and policy makers alike in providing a high-quality health service for all our population.”
“I’m particularly struck by the continued reduction in mortality rates from main causes of death such as heart disease, stroke and cancer which have led to an improvement in life expectancy in Ireland of nearly 2.5 years in the last decade. The contribution of modern health services to the improvements in health outcomes has been significant. However I also acknowledge that we still have issues of access to our health services that need to be addressed to lower the time patients can expect to wait for treatment.”
“Another striking, and welcome, feature is that we are living longer. Every year the 65 and over age group increases by 20,000 people. This trend is set to continue into the future and will have implications for future planning and health service delivery. The largest proportional increases in the population in Ireland will be in the category of those aged 85 years and older. The number of people aged 65 and over will grow from one-fifth to over one-third of the working population over the next two decades which will have implications for how we fund our health services.”
“In order to be able to provide high-quality services as our population continues to age, we need to have the ability to assess the performance of the health system in a way that ensures that valuable and finite health care resources are used in the most efficient way possible and that people can access high-quality care in a reasonable time. The main aim of any performance assessment should be to improve the health status of the population, with people continuing to live longer, healthier lives.”
Key findings in the report
The number of live births in Ireland has been falling year-on-year since 2009 and in 2016 the number of registered births was 63,897. Despite reductions in the numbers of births in recent years, the fertility rate in Ireland remains the 2nd highest in the EU, behind France.
Ireland is now beginning to catch up with other European countries in terms of population ageing. The population of those aged 65 years and over has increased by 34.3% since 2008 and has been increasing at a faster rate than that of our EU neighbours. The numbers of people in this age group is expected to almost double in the next 20 years, with the greatest proportional increase in the 85+ age group.
Over the past decade, Ireland has achieved an improvement in life expectancy. Life expectancy in Ireland has increased by almost two and a half years since 2006, with male life expectancy consistently higher than the EU average throughout the last decade.
Much of this increase in life expectancy is due to significant reductions in major causes of death such as circulatory system diseases and cancer. Since 2007 there has been a reduction in mortality rates for most major causes. The overall mortality rate has reduced by 14.6% since 2007.
In comparison to other EU countries, Ireland continues to have the highest levels of self-perceived health of any EU country. Those in higher income brackets tend to report better health than those in lower income brackets.
There have been improvements seen in survival rates from breast, cervical, colon and rectal cancer in the last 15 years. With the exception of rectal cancer, five-year net survival rates are lower in Ireland than the average for OECD countries where data is available.
While there has been a reduction in the mortality rate from respiratory diseases (including cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung) of almost 4% since 2010 the rate in Ireland is 38.2% higher than the EU28 average.
Total hospital discharges continue to rise with 62% of this activity now carried out on a day case basis (including dialysis).
While there are fewer public inpatient beds than a decade ago, there has been a 38.5% increase in day beds and a reduction in the average length of stay. The increase in day beds has allowed for a 47% increase in the number of day case patients over the last decade.
There are over 3,000 inpatient and day beds in private acute hospitals in Ireland.
Activity in private hospitals accounts for around 19% of total hospital activity in Ireland.
From 2007 to 2016 the average length of stay in a public acute hospitals decreased by 9.2%. Between 2015 and 2016 there was a decrease of 0.7%.
The number of elective and emergency discharges in acute public hospitals per 1,000 population has increased for most age categories between 2007 and 2016.
Read the full report here
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