Trends in Primary Care: Western Europe - Essay Example

"Trends in Primary Care: Western Europe" is a wonderful example of a paper on the health system. The United States has lost touch with the importance of Primary Care (PC) in recent years as more and more gear towards the necessity of specialization and the expediency of patient diagnosis. Western Europe offers a different perspective on how countries are able to maintain PC as a vital aspect of patient care and a convenient way to cut health care costs.

            Many countries in Western Europe have developed a strengthened approach to primary care by employing reforms in their framework such as introducing general practice as a singular medical specialization, fostering group practice, augmenting the services that can be provided by PC professionals, delegating tasks that were originally doctor-based to other health care professionals, and initiating the “money follows the patient” system where the providers will determine which services to purchase for a patient (World Health Organization, 2014).

            In Ireland, General Practitioners (GP) are deemed as “gatekeepers” before a patient goes ahead to consult a specialist. A non-emergency patient who goes directly to an Accident & Emergency (A&E) department of a public hospital will be charged €60 as a way of fine. But, if he has a referral letter from a GP or is a Medical Cardholder this fee is waived. The purpose of which is to discourage immediate results from A&E when a condition can easily be solved within primary care (World Health Organization, 2014). These innovations and many others provide an alternative to health care delivery and a means to avoid additional expenditures that Americans can take from.

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