Ranking of the best healthcare services in Europe
by Lukasz Manczak
October 03, 2009
The Netherlands was once again the best country in healthcare service in Europe according to the newest The Euro Health Consumer Index, followed by Denmark and Iceland.
The EHCI since its creation three years ago, has become a measurement standard for European healthcare. It ranks 33 national European health care systems across 38 indicators, covering six areas that are key to the health consumer: patients’ rights and information, e-health, waiting times for treatment, treatment outcomes, range and reach of services provided and access to medication.
All this factors are included in total score and rank, although there are some differences in individual categories. According to EHCI, the individual category leaders were as follows:
- Patient rights and information: Denmark
- e-Health: Denmark, Netherlands
- Waiting time for treatment: Albania, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland
- Outcomes: Sweden
- Range and reach of services provided: Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden
- Pharmaceuticals: Denmark, Netherlands
Generally speaking European healthcare continues to improve, although medical outcomes statistics is still appallingly poor in many countries (for example the number one killer condition: cardiovascular diseases).
Also some of the new members of European Union from Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Czech, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia) are doing surprisingly well, considering their much smaller healthcare spend in Purchasing Power adjusted dollars per capita. However, readjusting from politically planned to consumer-driven economies does take time.
Great improvement was made by Ireland, which has jumped 15 places since the HSE’s health transformation programme started in 2006 – when it ranked 28-th out of 29 countries.
And here is the detailed ranking of all countries being taken into account:
|
Rank
|
Country
|
Score
|
|
1
|
The Netherlands
|
863
|
|
2
|
Denmark
|
819
|
|
3
|
Iceland
|
811
|
|
4
|
Austria
|
795
|
|
5
|
Switzerland
|
788
|
|
6
|
Germany
|
787
|
|
7
|
France
|
778
|
|
8
|
Luxembourg
|
777
|
|
9
|
Sweden
|
762
|
|
10
|
Norway
|
740
|
|
11
|
Belgium
|
732
|
|
12
|
Finland
|
721
|
|
|
Ireland
|
701
|
|
14
|
UK
|
682
|
|
15
|
Italy
|
678
|
|
16
|
Slovenia
|
668
|
|
17
|
Czech Republic
|
667
|
|
18
|
Cyprus
|
638
|
|
19
|
Estonia
|
638
|
|
20
|
Hungary
|
633
|
|
21
|
Portugal
|
632
|
|
22
|
Spain
|
630
|
|
23
|
Croatia
|
627
|
|
24
|
Greece
|
600
|
|
25
|
Macedonia
|
576
|
|
26
|
Malta
|
565
|
|
27
|
Slovakia
|
560
|
|
28
|
Poland
|
546
|
|
29
|
Albania
|
542
|
|
30
|
Latvia
|
512
|
|
31
|
Romania
|
489
|
|
32
|
Bulgaria
|
448
|
Source: Euro Health Consumer Index 2009 report
Author: Lukasz Manczak – studied theoretical philosophy at Uniwesytet Zielonogórski in Poland, where he got MA degree with specialization in political & economic philosophy. He also holds Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with key interest in finance & investments. Currently he works in Dublin in accountancy area, he is also an active Catholic (Christian) and volunteer in Irish Police, working mainly on the streets of Dublin. E-mail: lukasz_manczak(at)yahoo.com
©Copyright by Lukasz Manczak
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