Healthcare costs in Ireland will more than double by 2050 due to the ageing of the country's population and the Government needs to start thinking about this now, according to Pat McArdle, the chief economist at Ulster Bank.
Although Ireland currently has the youngest population in the EU, it will end up with one of the oldest populations in 20 years which will result in a significant increase in healthcare costs, according to Mr McArdle.
"We don't have an ageing population at the moment. We're about 20 years behind the rest of Europe where there is an increase in retired people in many countries," he said. "There's something of a false sense of security because it's a problem that's 20 years away, but we need to be thinking about it now."
Mr McArdle said the percentage of gross domestic profit (GDP) spent on pensions in Ireland would more than double by 2050 while overall healthcare (including long-term care) costs would increase by 55 per cent.
Mr McArdle said that wealth could be bad for health - as people get wealthier, they tend to become less active and have more indulgent lifestyles which means they will have more need of healthcare.
Mr McArdle will be one of the guest speakers at a private healthcare conference called The Business of Health - Improving Healthcare which will be held in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin on March 21st.
Managing director of the Health Partnership, Noel Daly, who will be chairing the conference, said it would provide a unique platform for health professionals and their peers to deliberate and address the key emerging health issues of the day.
"With co-location very much on the Government agenda for the past while, we will have the opportunity to hear from somebody who had experience of this model in Australia. Co-location is not a feature of healthcare in Europe and the best developed models are in Europe," he said.
Retired consultant cardiac surgeon Maurice Neligan and founder of Hermitage Medical Developments, James Sheehan, who are not proponents of the co-location system, will be outlining to the conference what they see as the best model for Ireland.
Kim Chant of Ramsay Healthcare in Australia said co-location had worked very well in Australia, albeit better in some areas than others, and people believed it served the public sector just as well as the private sector.
The downside for the private sector, Ms Chant said, was that the public sector tended to have far greater control and to dictate the type of services provided.
The downside for the public sector was that it was losing its private patients to the private co-located hospitals.
Other health issues including care of the elderly, the way forward in primary care and performance management will also be discussed at the conference.
