CENTRE for CROSS BORDER STUDIES

This project – in which Centre will be partnered by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland – will consist of two linked research studies on modelling hospital service planning on a border region basis, and on the democratisation of health care.

The first study, which will build on a piece of initial desk research completed in late 2007, will examine the number, size, composition and possible locations of the hospitals that would be required in the future if the planning of acute services in the border region was on the basis of population needs rather than jurisdictional frontiers. It will work towards developing a prototype model of cross-border health service accessibility driven by geographical considerations around the distribution of patients (potential need and demand); the configuration of hospitals North and South (potential supply based on bed numbers and specialisms); and the transport network (modelling of accessibility based on travel time).

While population modelling is important for health service planning, it is less than useful if the needs and rights of the people who use those services are ignored. The second study will examine the role of community involvement in decision making in the planning of hospital services in the border regions of both jurisdictions.

See the first Progress Report.