Abstract
An Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system must encompass a spectrum of care, with dedicated pre-hospital and in-hospital medical facilities. It has to be organised in such a way as to include all necessary services—such as triage accurate initial assessment, prompt resuscitation, efficient management of emergency cases, and transport to definitive care. The global economic downturn has had a direct effect on the health sector and poses additional threats to the healthcare system. Greece is one of the hardest-hit countries. This manuscript aims to present the structure of the Greek EMS system and the impact of the current economic recession on it. Nowadays, primary care suffers major shortages in crucial equipment, unmet health needs, and ineffective central coordination. Patients are also facing economic limitations that lead to difficulties in using healthcare services. The multi-factorial problem of in-hospital EMS overcrowding is also evident and has been linked with potentially poorer clinical outcomes. Furthermore, the ongoing refugee crisis challenges the national EMS. Adoption of a triage scale, expansion of the primary care network, and an effective primary–hospital continuum of care are urgently needed in Greece to provide comprehensive, culturally competent, and high-quality health care.
Highlights
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have been described as “a comprehensive system which provides the arrangements of personnel, facilities, and equipment for the effective, coordinated, and timely delivery of health and adequate and specialized services to victims of sudden illness or injury” [1]
Greek EMS has been exclusively handled by EKAB, which is entirely funded by the government [8]
In 2016, the Greek government extended health coverage to uninsured people who are registered as unemployed as well as to refugees. Those who have less than 2400 euro per year of earned income are entitled to free health care, with the threshold rising according to the number of children in families
Summary
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have been described as “a comprehensive system which provides the arrangements of personnel, facilities, and equipment for the effective, coordinated, and timely delivery of health and adequate and specialized services to victims of sudden illness or injury” [1]. An EMS system encompasses a spectrum of care characterised by dedicated medical facilities at the pre-hospital and in-hospital levels. It is widely accepted that an economic recession may have a severe impact on the psychological well-being of the patient population and may act as a precipitator for suicide risk [6] It can increase the burden of chronic diseases, for instance in case of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [6]. When the 2007 global economic downturn began, it spread to Europe rapidly and Greece was one of the hardest-hit countries This manuscript aims to present the structure of the Greek pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency care and summarize the consequences of the current economic recession on the Greek EMS system. The considerable body of information examined in this article includes data that are to a large extent, but not exclusively, presented in Greek studies
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