HEALTH:THE OECD has urged the Government to look again at the basis for its controversial decision to centralise acute hospital services in the northeast on one site.
Its report, which specifically looked at the health reform plan in the northeast, suggests that a review of international systems could propose an alternative scenario of two hospitals in the region.
It says that the proposals for a single acute hospital for the northeast by 2015 are based largely on the view of the Royal College of Surgeons in England which argues that the catchment population for a general hospital is between 450,000 and 500,000 inhabitants.
However, the report says that within other OECD countries there are different views and that in France and Germany the catchment population size for a 500-bed hospital would be 150,000.
"It is important to be sure that the model used for planning the future hospital configuration in the northeast is the optimum one, given the specific characteristics of the region.
"By taking a broader look at international systems, including systems that are similar in terms of their needs, the Irish Government could examine different patterns of hospital requirements in the northeast. This may include the possibility of having two hospitals, one regional and one general", it says.
The report says that any examination could reaffirm the single hospital plan but that it is important to explore different patterns of hospital provision in the light of international experience.
It says that clinically the reform proposals make sense and will lead to safer and better quality treatment for patients.
However, it says that the HSE should re-examine the "sequencing" of its reform plans.
The report also argues that there is an urgent need to increase the number of training places for GPs and "to put incentives in place for them to establish practices in the northeast".
Overall the OECD report says that the health of the Irish people is improving at an exceptionally rapid pace with an increase in average life expectancy of five years since 1990.
It says that Ireland is competing with the UK, the US and Australia for healthcare professionals and that while this has had a favourable impact on salaries it had an unfavourable one on health expenditure.
It says that consultants' annual income is 50 per cent higher in Ireland than in France and 80 per cent higher than in Germany.
