Dan Mitchell makes some comments here that really hit some home truths on healthcare, in Ireland one third of our total spending is on healthcare, we could learn some big lessons from taking a more rational approach, in the Netherlands there are systems in place which we could replicate and while they have a bigger population they have smaller waiting times.
In fact, if I call Four Star Pizza in Artane they know what I ordered from the branch in Raheny, but if you get an x-ray in the Mater nobody in Beaumont knows about it, we need to computerize our systems and Dan’s points show, in part, that without efficiencies inherent in the system that letting the state run healthcare as is or expanding present offerings is throwing away money, far better would be a more meaningful relationship between spending and efficiency gains.
People confuse price with volume and that is the constant threat that cutbacks come with – cut our budget and we can’t offer the same volume of care, but that is a myth, the first …