Health needs are least well met in Estonia, Greece and Poland. That is one of the conclusions on the state of health in the EU published by the European Commission on 23 November. The state of health is derived from 28 national profiles and a 72-page companion document. It will be discussed at the next meeting of health ministers on 8 December.
The investigation was carried out in conjunction with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. It is part of the new Commission strategy on the state of health and follows on from an initial report, “Health at Glance”, published in November 2016. It provides an analysis of the state of health of the population and looks at significant risk factors, as well as at the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of health systems in each EU member state.
When asked in the press conference to indicate the best results, Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis stated: “I can’t say which is the best system. It all have strong points and weaknesses”, adding, nonetheless, that the accessibility and affordability of some models could clearly be improved. The companion report shows, for example, that these criteria are not met in Poland. “Affordability and unmet medical needs are key concerns in Poland. Due in part to workforce and allocative imbalances, Poland has high levels of unmet need for medical care and the longest waiting lists for elective procedures in the EU”, it states.
More generally, the profiles show that life expectancy is highest in Spain, Italy and France, up half the European average of 80.6 years. Premature deaths that could have been avoided with fast, effective health care (avoidable deaths) are higher in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria. In terms of health care staff, the EU had an average of 3.6 doctors (at 8.4 nurses) per 1,000 inhabitants in 2015. Poland, the United Kingdom and Romania were among the states with the lowest ratio of doctors to patients and Greece, Bulgaria and Latvia had the lowest ratio of nurses.
“We’re not here to point the finger of blame but to offer the opportunity for discussion with OECD experts. This could take the form of a seminar, a workshop or a more comprehensive political dialogue. I hope that it will provide inspiration at all political levels so that all citizens can have rapid access to innovative, safe and effective health care”, said Commissioner Andriukaitis.
The companion report can be found at: http://urlz.fr/6auE (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)