New guidelines will help decide on service cut:GUIDELINES PUBLISHED yesterday could help the Department of Health and the HSE make decisions about the effectiveness of existing treatments as they face cutting services to save money.
Speaking after the publication of Guidelines for the Economic Evaluation of Health Technologies in Ireland, Dr Máirín Ryan, director of health technology assessment at the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), said the current economic climate would bring a focus on what interventions and treatments would be maintained.
“When disinvesting, these guidelines could provide evidence to support such decisions,” she said. According to Hiqa, the guidelines will apply to all healthcare treatments, “including medications, procedures, medical devices and broader public health initiatives”.
The aim of health economic evaluation is to compare the costs and consequences of new or existing health interventions with one or more relevant alternatives. The preferred evaluation type is a cost-utility analysis (CUA) with the outcomes expressed in terms of quality adjusted life years (QALYs).
QALYs combine survival and health-related quality of life into a single measurement. Cost-benefit analysis is rarely used in healthcare because of the difficulties of expressing health benefits directly in monetary terms.
Health economic evaluation techniques were used to decide on the best screening method to look for colorectal cancer in the population. Using these techniques, Hiqa was able to advise the Minister for Health on the most cost effective method available.
Sharp rise in malaria cases here
THERE HAS been a sharp rise in the number of reported cases of malaria in the State in the past five years, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). On average, 77 cases of malaria have been reported annually in the past five years, compared to about 20 in previous years.
Malaria is now most commonly reported among non-Irish born residents, in particular Nigerians, and the most commonly cited reason for travel is “visiting family in country of origin”.
Device to deliver chemo drugs more efficiently
A NEW endoscopic device developed by an Irish research team, which allows chemotherapeutic drugs to be delivered in a more efficient and effective manner, has been unveiled at a seminar in Dublin.
The device, named the EndoVe, was developed by Cork Cancer Research Centre at University College Cork. It is designed to help in the treatment of colorectal cancers and can be used in cases of inoperable tumours.
Co-inventor Dr Declan Soden of the Cork Cancer Research Centre said the device allowed for chemotherapeutic drugs to be administered in a more localised way, which would lead to shorter stays in hospitals for patients.
“The first clinical trial of our device involving a patient with inoperable colorectal cancer has been successful in eliminating the tumour – the device makes the tumour tissues porous, meaning the tumour absorbs chemotherapy drugs more efficiently,” said Dr Soden.
“Less of the chemotherapy drug is used, which means minimal side effects for the patient and, because the chemotherapy drugs are only absorbed in the area treated by the electrical field, it results in lower drug concentrations and potentially shorter stays in hospital.
“It offers great hope for patients who would be unable to tolerate the normal standard of care such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.”
The device was developed on foot of research funded by the Health Research Board, and was showcased with six other projects at a seminar organised by the HRB and the Irish Medical Devices Association, at Dublin Convention Centre.