The recession will make health inequalities in Ireland worse with growing evidence that the public are opting out of medical services they have to pay for, a survey has found.
The annual Pfizer Health Index report, which surveys more than 1,000 Irish adults every year, has found that people are going to the doctors and taking screening tests less often and also not attending hospitals as much.
The most vulnerable section of society is the so-called C2s or skilled manual workers who constitute nearly a quarter of the population and have been especially hard hit by the recession.
Over a third of them (34 per cent) have neither a medical card nor health insurance against 25 per cent of the population as a whole. Among the middle-class, the number with private health insurance remains high at 64 per cent.
The 2010 results show an across the board fall-off, whether in terms of visiting the GP for a check-up (71 per cent in 2010 compared with 75 per cent in 2008), as a result of feeling unwell (66 per cent in 2010 compared with 73 per cent in 2008), going for a voluntary medical screening (44 per cent in 2010 versus 48 per cent in 2008) and going into hospital for a medical procedure or operation (16 per cent in 2010 versus 19 per cent in 2008). The fall-off was most pronounced by those in the C2 category.
Professor Kevin Balanda, associate director in the Institute of Public Health, said the results were indicative of a trend which would exacerbate existing health inequalities.
He said poorer people suffered disproportionately when health promotion and prevention budgets and primary care were cut.
“These results show evidence of emerging trends indicating that the gap in health status between the social groups is unfortunately likely to be exacerbated in the coming years,” he said.
“What has emerged over the last five years is that people from lower social backgrounds are making greater reductions in non-discretionary spending.”
Health inequalities, according to the survey, are quite pronounced with half of all people in the lowest socio-demographic group (DE) suffering from a health condition compared with 36 per cent of people in the higher socio-demographic group (ABC1).
People from lower socio-demographic groups are 2.5 times more likely to suffer from arthritis, twice as likely to have heart disease and three times more likely to have depression.
Professor Balanda said Ireland is a mid-ranking country in the EU in terms of health inequality with the differences being most pronounced in the newer member states. Some of the reasons for health inequality include poor diet and living conditions and higher rates of smoking.
He added: "As the State plans how to respond to the economic crisis for the next four or five years, it is critical that it takes into account the impact of those measures on the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. Unless it does that, the indications are that social and health inequalities in the State will increase."
