IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eso/journl/v38y2007i2p191-210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Equity in the Utilisation of Hospital Inpatient Services in Ireland? An Improved Approach to the Measurement of Health Need

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Layte

    (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin)

Abstract

The complex interweaving of public and private provision in Irish hospitals has led to concerns that hospital care is not available to all on the basis of need alone. Previous research on Irish hospitals found that utilisation was neutral across the income distribution controlling for health status – i.e., there was essentially equal treatment for equal need irrespective of income. However, the health indicator used in these analyses may not consistently measure health status across income groups. In this paper we combine multiple indicators into a composite "Ill Health Index" and find that the measure used for standardisation has important consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Layte, 2007. "Equity in the Utilisation of Hospital Inpatient Services in Ireland? An Improved Approach to the Measurement of Health Need," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 38(2), pages 191-210.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:38:y:2007:i:2:p:191-210
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.esr.ie/Vol38_2/02ESRIVol38.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2007
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wagstaff, Adam & Paci, Pierella & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1991. "On the measurement of inequalities in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 545-557, January.
    2. Richard Layte & Brian Nolan, 2004. "Equity in the Utilisation of Health Care in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 111-134.
    3. Nolan, Brian, 1991. "The Utilisation and Financing of Health Services in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GRS155, June.
    4. Tim Callan & Brian Nolan, 1991. "Distributional Aspects of Ireland's Fiscal Adjustment," Papers WP029, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    5. Adda, Jerome & Chandola, Tarani & Marmot, Michael, 2003. "Socio-economic status and health: causality and pathways," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 57-63, January.
    6. Tussing, A. Dale, 1985. "Irish Medical Care Resources: An Economic Analysis," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GRS126, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nolan, Anne, 2011. "An extension in eligibility for free primary care and avoidable hospitalisations: A natural experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 978-985.
    2. Layte, Richard & Nolan, Anne, 2013. "Income-Related Inequity in the Use of GP Services: A Comparison of Ireland and Scotland," Papers WP454, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    3. Hobbins, Anna P. & Barry, Luke & Kelleher, Dan & Shah, Koonal & Devlin, Nancy & Ramos Goni, Juan Manuel & O’Neill, Ciaran, 2020. "Do people with private health insurance attach a higher value to health than those without insurance? Results from an EQ-5D-5 L valuation study in Ireland," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(6), pages 639-646.
    4. Jacqueline O'Reilly & Miriam M. Wiley, 2008. "How Local is Hospital Treatment? An Exploratory Analysis of Public/Private Variation in Location of Treatment in Irish Acute Public Hospitals," Papers WP237, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    5. Smith, Samantha & Walsh, Brendan & Wren, Maev-Ann & Barron, Steve & Morgenroth, Edgar & Eighan, James & Lyons, Seán, 2019. "Geographic profile of healthcare needs and non-acute healthcare supply in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS90, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Layte & Anne Nolan, 2015. "Eligibility for free GP care and the utilisation of GP services by children in Ireland," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 3-27, March.
    2. Hudson, Eibhlin & Nolan, Anne, 2015. "Public healthcare eligibility and the utilisation of GP services by older people in Ireland," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 24-43.
    3. Richard Layte & Brian Nolan, 2004. "Equity in the Utilisation of Health Care in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 111-134.
    4. Nolan, Anne, 2011. "An extension in eligibility for free primary care and avoidable hospitalisations: A natural experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 978-985.
    5. Layte, Richard & Nolan, Anne, 2013. "Income-Related Inequity in the Use of GP Services: A Comparison of Ireland and Scotland," Papers WP454, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    6. Richard Layte & Anne Nolan, 2015. "Income-related inequity in the use of GP services by children: a comparison of Ireland and Scotland," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(5), pages 489-506, June.
    7. Miriam M. Wiley, 2005. "The Irish health system: developments in strategy, structure, funding and delivery since 1980," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(S1), pages 169-186, September.
    8. Nolan, Anne, 2006. "Evaluating the Impact of Eligibility for Free Care on the Use of GP Services in Ireland: A Difference-in-Difference Matching Approach," Papers HRBWP25, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    9. David Madden & Anne Nolan & Brian Nolan, 2005. "GP reimbursement and visiting behaviour in Ireland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(10), pages 1047-1060, October.
    10. Brian Nolan, 1990. "Inequity in the Financing and Delivery of Health Care in Ireland," Papers WP016, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    11. Nolan, Anne & Nolan, Brian, 2004. "A Panel Data Analysis of The Utilisation of GP Services in Ireland: 1995-2001," Papers HRBWP13, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    12. Smyth, Emer & McCoy, Selina, 2009. "Investing in Education: Combating Educational Disadvantage," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS006, June.
    13. Nolan, Anne, 2008. "Evaluating the impact of eligibility for free care on the use of general practitioner (GP) services: A difference-in-difference matching approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(7), pages 1164-1172, October.
    14. Nolan, Anne & Nolan, Brian, 2003. "A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Utilisation of GP Services in Ireland: 1987-2001," Papers HRBWP01, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    15. Layte, Richard & Nolan, Anne & McGee, Hannah & O'Hanlon, Ann, 2009. "Do consultation charges deter general practitioner use among older people? A natural experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(8), pages 1432-1438, April.
    16. A. Nolan & B. Nolan, 2008. "Eligibility for free GP care, “need” and GP visiting in Ireland," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 9(2), pages 157-163, May.
    17. McGregor, P. & Nolan, Anne & Nolan, Brian & O'Neill, C., 2006. "A Comparison of GP Visiting in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland," Papers HRBWP22, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    18. Nolan, Anne & Nolan, Brian, 2007. "Income, Medical Card Eligibility and Access to GP Services in Ireland," Book Chapters, in: Nolan, Brian (ed.),The Provision and Use of Health Services, Health Inequalities and Health and Social Gain, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    19. Layte, Richard & Russell, Helen & McCoy, Selina, 2002. "The Economics and Marketing of Tobacco: An Overview of the Existing Published Evidence," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number PRS46, June.
    20. Guido Erreygers & Roselinde Kessels, 2017. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: A New Approach to the Measurement of Bivariate Inequality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:38:y:2007:i:2:p:191-210. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Aedin Doris (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.esr.ie .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.