Irish people are turning up in large numbers at hospital accident-and-emergency units rather than going to their GP because they see it as a cheaper and easier option.
That is according to research published yesterday which may go some way to explaining why so many A&E units are grossly overcrowded.
The findings are based on a telephone poll of just over 1,000 adults across the State earlier this week. Some 27 per cent of those who had been to A&E in the past six months said they used A&E rather than going to their GP because it was cheaper, and 52 per cent agreed it was "easier" to go to A&E than visit their local GP.
Furthermore almost 90 per cent said if there was a free 24-hour GP-based A&E service in designated areas they would prefer to present there instead of at a public hospital.
Those polled were also asked about the burden of alcohol abuse on A&E units and how much they believed, if at all, this should be taken into account in generating additional funding. Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) believed a levy should be imposed on the drinks industry to help pay for A&E services used by people as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.
And 78 per cent felt those presenting at A&E units with alcohol-induced problems, as a result of things such as weekend binge drinking, should themselves have to pay for their care.
The poll was carried out by Red C Research and was commissioned by the Centre for Insurance Studies at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD. When those surveyed were asked which solution they most favoured for increasing investment in A&E services, 34 per cent said they favoured reduced expenditure in other departments, 24 per cent favoured the sale of land attached to hospitals, 18 per cent favoured increased private investment, 12 per cent favoured an increase in taxes, 5 per cent favoured additional Government borrowing, and 7 per cent expressed no opinion.
They were also asked how confident they were about the new Minister for Health, Ms Harney, tackling the A&E crisis. Some 49 per cent were "not confident/not very confident" that the new Minister would make a difference.
However, 27 per cent felt confident Ms Harney will make a difference in sorting out the key problems in A&E.
Prof Ray Kinsella, director of the Centre for Insurance Studies, said the findings provide an important "base-line" profile of patients' experience of the A&E services. Key problems included lack of access and cost of GP care. The findings have far-reaching implications for political parties, hospital management and patients, he said.