Gestor bibliográfico Crisis y Salud

The Irish economy has moved from roaring tiger to half-drowned kitten in the space of a few years, with knock-on effects for the health sector. From averaging more than 5% growth in the early 2000s, the economy shrank by over 10% between 2008 and 2010. Debt has ballooned from 25% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005 to more than 100% of GDP in 2010. Unemployment leapt from 4% to 14% in 4 years and the government has taken on the extensive debt of the banks. The bailout by the European Central Bank in late 2010 confirmed that there are no quick fixes for the current malaise of this multidimensional crisis.1 In consequence, the Irish health system has faced cuts to public funding of more than €2 billion, or a whopping 17% of the government health budget from 2010 to 2012. Health accounted for almost 30% of cuts to public expenditure between 2010 and 2012. These cuts have been achieved through general wage and fee reductions, voluntary redundancies and non-replacement of retiring staff (with a reduction of 4000 staff between 2009 and 2011), and tough measures to manage demand and to squeeze efficiencies from the system.