It is now clear that the deteriorating economic outlook will have a significant impact on healthcare. Although health is a core societal service it will nevertheless feel the pressure of the economic slowdown; at best public spending austerity, at worst reductions in financing or greater ‘out of pocket’ burden for citizens. Affordability and sustainability will become new watchwords for future healthcare spending including Structural Funds.

The challenge for the EUREGIO III project was therefore how to ensure that case material looks forward to these new challenges and not to past decades where these new factors were manifestly not in play or relevant. This has meant a late order (2011) reshaping of case studies that offer relevant and important precedents and learning experience for the future; where the investment strategy must address at minimum:

• The rapidly changing demands on healthcare services in particular an geing population (healthy ageing) and the rise in chronic illness
• A slow down (and possible reduction) in new resource availability – likely to be particularly acute in the capital sector due to the problems arising from the credit crisis
• The outcomes of the Hungarian Presidency, EU Council Conclusions in calling for reform of health systems to move on from an unsustainable hospital-centred model towards more sustainable and effective integrated care systems
• The reinforcement coming from the new Cohesion Policy draft guidelines underpinned by Europe 2020 which in turn highlight specific areas of concern – and opportunity e.g. healthy ageing / eHealth.

The final portfolio of case studies therefore reflect this overall new sense of direction – albeit that the Cohesion Policy guidelines will be subject to an18 month consultation period. 

Structural Fund case studies