Results centre: a clear governmental wager on improving the health of the Catalans

Since 2010, the results and indicators have been collected and analysed of the quality of the healthcare in the integral health system for public use of Catalonia (SISCAT). This is the only instrument of its size in Europe.

Improvements

The reports analyse data to suggest improvements, such as the impact on survival and expense associated with femur fracture in the elderly in Catalonia. The report says that 8,172 people of over 65 fractured their femur in 2013, causing an average hospital stay of 11.1 days and hospital mortality of 5% and an annual 24%.
With these data, the Department of Health can recommend actions to prevent falls and can revise the medications and especially the drugs related to the risk of falls such as the benzodiazepines. It recommends revising the furniture in the homes of the elderly to make sure, for example, that there are rails in the bath, that there are no blinds that can cause falls and that the homes are well lit.

Balance

The reports also make an exhaustive balance of Catalan health.

•    The index of overall satisfaction with specialised outpatient healthcare in Catalonia is 7.8 out of 10.
•    The percentage of major outpatient surgery has increased from 52.4% in 2009 to 58.4% in 2014.
•    69.3% go home after being held in a convalescence centre; 43.9% have improved in their functional state.
•    The percentage of mortality within 30 days of hospital release for the selected serious diseases such as a heart attack, a stroke or congestive cardiac insufficiency fell between 2011 and 2014.
•    The use of infant and juvenile mental health centres (CSMIJ) has increased by 27.6% in six years. These figures are partly explained by the centres detecting more and better.

The Health Minister, Boi Ruiz, during his presentation stressed the importance of having a single instrument like this in the Spanish state and added that it is a unique, "well-consolidated" instrument in the State and the only one of its size in Europe, which has allowed "the efficiency of the Catalan public health system" to be improved.

The details of the reports of the Results Centre can be viewed on the following link.