ERSI report shows Cork and Kerry rank highest in the country for good health

A new report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ERSI) shows that Cork and Kerry people have the lowest rates of deprivation and highest rates of people in good health in Ireland.

The ERSI report, an analysis of population-based resource allocation for health and social care in Ireland, shows that Cork’s HSE region is the least deprived health region.

Health region D (Cork and Kerry) has a deprivation rate of 17.5%, according to the ERSI, while the other five regions have deprivation rates between 22% and 24.2%.

Health region D has the highest percentage of individuals reporting good or very good health in Ireland, with 84% describing their health this way. The region also has the lowest levels of people with a chronic illness and with multiple long-term conditions.

However, 10% of the population in health region D are 70+ — which is among the highest in Ireland — which could lead to a strain on health resources in the future, a Cork city GP said.

Positive

Dr John Sheehan, also a Fianna Fáil councillor for Cork City North West, told The Echo: “Overall, the news is very positive — people are living longer, they’re keeping active, and rates of smoking are going down which is great, but it does pose a challenge of healthcare and how we deliver it.

“Nobody wants to go to hospital if they can avoid it, they want the service delivered locally,” he said.

“Whether that’s in cities or rural areas, we have to build that infrastructure.”

Mr Sheehan pointed out that, as well as having the second largest city in Ireland, there is a large area of Cork and Kerry which is very rural, saying that services need to be put in place for these regions to keep the their rates of people in good health high.

He said: “Historically, a lot of these rural areas struggle as younger people move to cities for college and jobs. That can mean a disproportionate number of elderly people in an area, which makes it harder to provide healthcare.

“The hospital model for the last 150 years of everybody goes to hospital for everything, that’s not a model we want to have going forward, we should be able to provide most services in communities.

“That includes things like day centres and walking groups, which are some of the most positive and cost effective health interventions, they’re giving people a better quality of life and it makes a big difference to their health — I’ve seen it in my own patients in Blackpool.”