Hippocrates Model

The aim of the research in this report is to estimate the demand and cost implications of extending eligibility for GP services (providing a GP visit card) to the whole population.

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This report finds that due to projected demographic change, particularly population ageing, public acute hospital workforce requirements are projected to increase across all staff categories by 2035. Projected workforce requirements vary regionally with relatively higher growth in the east of the country.

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New research from the ESRI funded by the Department of Health projects expenditure for most primary, community, and long-term health and social care services in Ireland for the years 2019–2035. These projections take into account new ESRI population and macroeconomic projections that incorporate the expected impact of Covid-19. Expenditure projections incorporate a range of scenarios for changes in demographics, healthy ageing, policy measures, and costs.

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New research from the ESRI provides projections of expenditure for public acute hospital and adult acute psychiatric in-patient services in Ireland for the years 2018–2035. These projections are based on new ESRI projections for population and economic growth, both of which consider the impact of COVID-19. A range of alternative projections are presented reflecting alternative assumptions about population growth, trends in health and life expectancy, policy change, and costs. The report contains the most comprehensive mapping of Irish public hospital expenditure to have been published.

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This report provides annual projections of demand for public and private health and social care services in Ireland for the years 2015–2030. These projections are based on new ESRI projections for population growth, the first projections to be published based on the 2016 Census. The report contains the most comprehensive mapping of public and private activity in the Irish healthcare system to have been published.

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This report analyses the types of data available on dental and optical services in a community setting and considers how these might be incorporated into the Hippocrates Model. The Hippocrates Model provides estimates and projections of healthcare demand, capacity and expenditure for a range of Irish health and social care services.



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The Hippocrates Model provides estimates and projections of public and private healthcare demand for a range of Irish health and social care services and has been extended to project capacity and expenditure for public hospital care. The first report from the Hippocrates Model, published in 2017, presented a baseline for projection based on data from 2015. This report updates that baseline analysis using 2018 data. Using a range of administrative data sources, the report provides age and sex utilisation profiles for public acute hospital services. It covers emergency department and outpatient department attendances, and day-patient and in-patient discharges.

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This report analyses available data on specialist mental health services in Ireland to establish a baseline for inclusion in the Hippocrates Model of Healthcare Demand and Expenditure.

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This report analyses available data on specialist disability services in Ireland to establish a baseline for inclusion in the Hippocrates Model of Healthcare Demand and Expenditure.

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Recent improvements in Irish oral health, together with Ireland’s ageing and growing population, have highlighted the need to reform dental services. A new National Oral Health policy (NOHP), “Smile agus Sláinte” was introduced by the Department of Health in 2019 to address these challenges. The development of a national database of oral healthcare measures is a key part of the new NOHP. This article describes how data from the HSE National Dental Record and Information System (NDRIS), combined with data from existing sources, has allowed us to develop an age-specific profile of those availing of publicly financed oral examinations. The analysis provides the most complete picture to date of those availing of publicly financed dental services in the Republic of Ireland.

Article    Research Bulletin

Existing Irish hospital bed capacity is low by international standards while Ireland also reports the highest inpatient bed occupancy rate across OECD countries. Moreover, strong projected population growth and ageing is expected to increase demand for hospital care substantially by 2030. Reform proposals have suggested that increased investment and access to nonacute care may mitigate some increased demand for hospital care over the next number of years, and it is in this context that the Irish government has committed to increase the supply of public hospital beds by 2600 by 2027. Incorporating assumptions on the rebalancing of care to nonhospital settings, this paper analyses the capacity implications of projected demand for hospital care in Ireland to 2030.

Article     Research Bulletin

This research developed a number of projection scenarios to examine how population change, the cost of delivering private hospital care, and the removal of private practice from public hospitals might impact private hospital expenditure requirements to 2035.

Article   Research Bulletin

Larger and longer waiting lists for public hospital appointments and treatment have been a significant challenge in Irish healthcare for decades. The issue has been further exacerbated by COVID-19 in 2020 with the cancellation of elective activity in public hospitals for several months. The aim of this analysis is to estimate the activity and expenditure required to clear the accumulated backlog and account for future service demand. We estimate that to clear the backlog of cases and keep pace with demand over a period of five years, additional expenditure excluding any associated capital costs of up to €1.1bn would be required. 

 

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This analysis examines the extent to which activity in public hospitals is privately financed and provides an overview of service delivery across public and private hospitals in Ireland in 2015. This analysis was conducted in light of a Sláintecare proposal to remove private practice from public hospitals and the establishment of an Independent Review group to examine this proposal in detail. Overall we find that just under 16 per cent of cases were privately financed in public hospitals in 2015. Across public and private hospitals, fewer than one-in-four private day patient episodes were estimated to have taken place in public hospitals. In comparison, over 50 per cent of private in-patient bed days were recorded in public hospitals. These findings suggest that the private hospital system appears to have primarily specialised in the delivery of elective care. It is unclear therefore whether the majority of private in-patients in public hospitals, who are emergency in-patients, could access the care they may require in private hospitals. It is acknowledged that a barrier to more detailed comparative analysis is the lack of a centralised administrative system to collect private hospital activity data.

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