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Chapter 6 | The impact of the crisis on the health system and health in Latvia
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slightly higher than the EU15 average of 8.63. The hospital occupancy rate
was good (above 76.1% in 2007 compared with the EU15 average of 75.7%)
(WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2013).
The number of long-term (nursing and elderly home) beds in Latvia, at 234 per
100000 population in 2007, clearly lagged behind western European countries
(there were 865 long-term beds in the United Kingdom in that year; the average
for the EU15 is not available) (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2013). By
contrast, despite a strong decline in the number of psychiatric hospital beds
per 100000 population, Latvia still has one of the highest rates in Europe (154
compared with 66 per 100000 in the United Kingdom; the average for EU15
is not available) (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2013).
Table 6.3 Harmonized indices of consumer prices for all-items and for health in Latvia
and in the EU27, 2006–2012
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Latvia (all items HICP) 106.57 117.32 135.21 139.62 137.91 143.73 147.02
Latvia (health) 106.58 114.12 129.37 152.49 152.65 148.64 149.2
EU27 (all items HICP) 102.31 104.73 108.56 109.63 111.91 115.38 118.43
EU27 (health) 101.66 103.91 106.43 108.39 109.91 112.15 115.02
Note: Harmonized indices of consumer prices (HICP) for all-items and health (CP06) where
2005 values equal 100.
Source: Eurostat, 2013b.
The overall availability of human resources was good. However, the number
of GPs per 100 000 population, although above the average for the EU12
(29), was lower than the EU15 average of 91 (authors' estimates; no data on
the number of GPs per 100 000 in Latvia from WHO Regional Office for
Europe, 2013), and the proportion of nurses was very low (556 per 100 000
in 2007 compared with 847 in the EU15 (WHO Regional Office for Europe,
2013). Latvian patients have direct access (with restrictions, e.g. only patients
with diabetes have direct access to endocrinologists) to many (11) types of
specialist, including psychiatrists, oncologists, gynaecologists, paediatricians,
endocrinologists, dermatovenerologists, ophthalmologists, narcologists
(addiction specialists), and GPs do not usually deal with such patients. Family
medicine was introduced as a new specialty in Latvia only in 1990 and
considerable efforts were undertaken to retrain doctors who wished to become
GPs in order to build a stronger primary care level (Mitenbergs et al., 2012).