Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 May 2022
288. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Health the estimated full-year cost to conduct an intersectional analysis of healthcare provision across ethnicity, socio-economic background, nationality, disability and gender to ensure that the health care that is provided fits its purpose and need. [25191/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe estimated full-year cost of conducting such analysis is dependent on a range of factors including the scope of such work and whether such work would be carried out external to my Department.
However, I can inform the Deputy that analysis on this area is currently underway as part of my Department’s Joint Research Programme in Healthcare Reform with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Commencing in 2014, the broad objectives of this Research Programme are to apply economic analysis to explore issues in relation to health services, health spending and population health, in order to inform the development of health policy and the Government’s healthcare reform agenda.
As part of the 2022 work programme agreed by the Research Programme Steering group, one topic of research concerns a profile of health, healthcare use, and healthy behaviours across socioeconomic groups in Ireland using Healthy Ireland Survey (HIS) data. The health measures analysed in this report will be self-reported health, health illnesses and multimorbidity. The healthcare use measures analysed will be GP visits per annum, practice nurse visits per annum, inpatient hospital nights and emergency department attendances. The healthy behaviour measures analysed will be smoking, exercise and excessive alcohol consumption.
An age and gender profile will be created for each measure while an age and gender profile for deprivation quintiles will also be estimated. This will provide information how health, healthcare use, and healthy behaviours differ across socioeconomic groups In Ireland.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
