A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland
Background: There has been a lack of systematic inquiry into how governments respond during times of crises, how well these responses comply with good governance, and how they affect health systems. The aim of this study was to analyse the reactions of the Icelandic health system during the first 7...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/1403494812470038 2024-04-07T07:53:27+00:00 A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland Olafsdottir, Anna Elisabet Allotey, Pascale Reidpath, Daniel D. 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1403494812470038 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1403494812470038 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/1403494812470038 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Scandinavian Journal of Public Health volume 41, issue 2, page 198-205 ISSN 1403-4948 1651-1905 Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health General Medicine journal-article 2012 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494812470038 2024-03-08T03:22:13Z Background: There has been a lack of systematic inquiry into how governments respond during times of crises, how well these responses comply with good governance, and how they affect health systems. The aim of this study was to analyse the reactions of the Icelandic health system during the first 7 months of the economic crisis in 2008. Methods: The grounded theory approach was used in data sampling, collection, and data analysis. Secondary data were collected from parliamentary documents, news, and health discussions in two of the largest newspapers in Iceland. Primary data were collected through interviews with key stakeholders in the health sector. Atlas.ti. 5.2 was used to analyse the data. Results: The health sector’s first response to the crisis was to close and merge wards on hospitals as well as making structural changes to reduce the overhead costs in healthcare institutions. The Minister of Health attempted to introduce radical changes but because of failures in good governance practices, such as a lack of transparency and fair participation together with a lack of supporting documents, the proposed changes were not executed. Conclusions: Economic crises are a critical test of health systems’ resilience. The manner in which governance practices, together with strong stewardship, influence the ability of the health system to adapt to changes and reorganise without causing stress, confusion, or anger and without changing its basic structure and function are important, and open to robust evaluation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland SAGE Publications Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 41 2 198 205 |
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English |
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Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health General Medicine |
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Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health General Medicine Olafsdottir, Anna Elisabet Allotey, Pascale Reidpath, Daniel D. A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland |
topic_facet |
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health General Medicine |
description |
Background: There has been a lack of systematic inquiry into how governments respond during times of crises, how well these responses comply with good governance, and how they affect health systems. The aim of this study was to analyse the reactions of the Icelandic health system during the first 7 months of the economic crisis in 2008. Methods: The grounded theory approach was used in data sampling, collection, and data analysis. Secondary data were collected from parliamentary documents, news, and health discussions in two of the largest newspapers in Iceland. Primary data were collected through interviews with key stakeholders in the health sector. Atlas.ti. 5.2 was used to analyse the data. Results: The health sector’s first response to the crisis was to close and merge wards on hospitals as well as making structural changes to reduce the overhead costs in healthcare institutions. The Minister of Health attempted to introduce radical changes but because of failures in good governance practices, such as a lack of transparency and fair participation together with a lack of supporting documents, the proposed changes were not executed. Conclusions: Economic crises are a critical test of health systems’ resilience. The manner in which governance practices, together with strong stewardship, influence the ability of the health system to adapt to changes and reorganise without causing stress, confusion, or anger and without changing its basic structure and function are important, and open to robust evaluation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Olafsdottir, Anna Elisabet Allotey, Pascale Reidpath, Daniel D. |
author_facet |
Olafsdottir, Anna Elisabet Allotey, Pascale Reidpath, Daniel D. |
author_sort |
Olafsdottir, Anna Elisabet |
title |
A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland |
title_short |
A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland |
title_full |
A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland |
title_fullStr |
A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
A health system in economic crises: A case study from Iceland |
title_sort |
health system in economic crises: a case study from iceland |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1403494812470038 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1403494812470038 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/1403494812470038 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health volume 41, issue 2, page 198-205 ISSN 1403-4948 1651-1905 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494812470038 |
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Scandinavian Journal of Public Health |
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41 |
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2 |
container_start_page |
198 |
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205 |
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1795669299933741056 |