Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Quality gap in health care between east and west Europe

There is a persistent gap in the quality of health sectors between "old" EU member states and new countries in central and eastern Europe, with the best and most patient-friendly hospitals in Austria, the Netherlands and France, and the worst recorded in Latvia, Bulgaria and Poland.

A report evaluating the health services in 29 countries - the EU member states plus Switzerland and Norway - was unveiled on Monday (1 October) by the Health Consumer Powerhouse, a Brussels-based group specialising in health care research.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • All countries need to further improve on their health care, says the study (Photo: Wikipedia)

The authors of the study measured the performance of healthcare systems in five categories which are key to the consumer, such as patients' rights and information, waiting times for common treatments, care outcomes, the generosity of the system and access to medication.

The 2007 table is topped by Austria, as the country with Europe's most consumer-friendly health care, due to a "combination of widespread access to treatment and excellence in outcomes," for example in cancer treatment.

Although not leading any single category, Vienna gathered the most points (806 out of 1000) altogether, with last year's winner, France, slipping to third place. The Netherlands, top in 2005, comes in at second place this year.

However, the researchers suggest that there is a tiny difference between the top three countries plus Switzerland and Germany and only "very subtle changes in single scores modify the internal order" among them.

The four Nordic countries Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark come in the next cluster, with different strong points.

Sweden, for example, is EU champion for medical quality, and Denmark for respecting patient rights and providing information.

Of the "new" member states, Estonia features as the best performer in 12th place, with better results than several west European countries, such as the UK, Ireland and Italy. Cyprus and the Czech Republic perform similarly well.

However, most other newcomers come out at the bottom of the table, with Latvia getting 435 points out of 1000 and a remark by authors that it is "at this point in time lacking in resources and organisational culture to be a really consumer-adapted system."

The study points out that despite all the differences between the countries, none of them has achieved more than 80 percent of their potential, and all need further reform.

"One major challenge across Europe is to actually start measuring and calculating what health care services do, how much and how well they do it," Arne Bjornberg, author of the study, told EUobserver.

"Because traditionally what has been measured was how much money we put into health care or how many doctors we have or how many hospitals, but very little on what health care does and how well it does it," he added.

Finnish PM: Russia preparing for 'long conflict with West'

Finland, which shares a border with Russia, has cautioned about the danger of a Russian attack in coming years. Russia is not "invincible" but "self-satisfaction is no longer an option," Finnish prime minister Petteri Orpo said.

EU Commission proposes opening Bosnia accession talks

Eight years on, the EU Commission is to recommend on Tuesday that member states open accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina after the country took "impressive steps" to meet the bloc's standards, Ursula von der Leyen said.

Opinion

How the EU can raise its game in the Middle East

Could the EU repair its reputation and credibility by taking action on Gaza? EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, Spain, Belgium and Ireland, have worked hard to repair the damage, but have faced political headwinds due to internal divisions.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us