chart 14
Number of physicians per 100,000 inhabitants and number of physicians per 100,000
inhabitants working in hospitals: Year 2015
Physicians per 100,000
Physicians per 100,000 working in hospitals
700
600
500
77
200
300
400
Ire
la
y
0
100
chart 15
Number of practising nurses per 100,000 inhabitants: Years 2000 and 2015
2000
2015
Variation: Years 2000-2015
70%
1800
61%
1600
60%
49%
1400
1200
37%
35%
1000
800
600
30%
28%
23%
20%
17%
12%
12%
5%
400
7%
3%
10%
5%
2%
1%
200
In the last
16 years,
the total
current health
expenditure
has more than
doubled in most
European
countries
22
HHE 2018 | hospitalhealthcare.com
to nurses. In many cases nurses and general
practitioners acquire new skills and
competencies, relieving the burden of hospital
care by enforcing primary care institutions and
community services.
In 2014, EU15 had 359 practising physicians
and 943 practising nurses per 100,000 inhabitants
and EU13 had 284 physicians and 577 nurses per
100,000 inhabitants.
In 2015, the share of practising nurses per
100,000 registered the lowest values in Greece
(321), Latvia (468), Poland (520), Spain (529) and
Italy (544). The highest values belong to Germany
(1,334), Finland (1,466), Denmark (1,670) and
Switzerland (1,795). In the same year, the lowest
share of practising physicians was registered in
Poland (233), United Kingdom (279), Slovenia
(283), Ireland (288), Luxembourg (291) whereas
the highest values were in Germany (414),
-12%
0
40%
34%
27%
23%
50%
39%
0%
-10%
-20%
Sweden (419), Switzerland (420), Lithuania (434)
and Austria (510). Between 2000 and 2015, the
number of both practisng nurses and physicians
increased by 20% in the EU, according to
information available.
These figures provide evidence of the
policies implemented, or at least the trends for
the management of healthcare professionals,
especially concerning the allocation of resources
and responsibilities between doctors and
nurses. In the EU, the average rate of nurses per
physicians is about 2.1 points. In 2015 the highest
values were in Luxembourg (4.1), Switzerland
(4.3), Denmark (4.6) and Finland (4.6). In these
countries, there is a high shift of competencies
from physicians to nurses. Conversely, countries
where the values are lower are Spain (1.4), Italy
(1.4), Latvia (1.5) and Austria (1.6).
In 2015, physicians working in hospital