By Isaac O’ Connor
34% of the population living in the West and North-West region were medical card holders in 2022, according to the HSE Health Regions 2022 statistics published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on 22 November
These figures reflect that those living in the HSE West and North-West region, which covers Galway, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon and Mayo.
The data also revealed that of the region’s overall population of 759,652 in April 2022, the highest age group percentages were 40-44 years old for females and 10-14 years old for males.
According to the CSO, the percentage of its total population with GP visit cards was 11%, those availing of disability allowance was 3%, carer’s allowance was 2%, invalidity pension 1%, and illness benefit was 2%.
The six new HSE regions were set up in March 2024. Each region has its own budget, leadership team and responsibility for local decision-making.
Each health region is led by a Regional Executive Officer (REO). The REO is accountable and responsible for regional health and social care services.
The six REOs reports directly to the HSE Chief Executive Officer.
“The results presented here are from a data matching project, carried out by the CSO, to analyse and provide demographic and health statistics on the new HSE Health Regions, which were in place in March 2024, using Census 2022 and other administrative data sources,” said Steven Conroy, CSO statistician.
“This release provides population pyramids showing age groups and sex for each of the six HSE Health Regions. It also calculates provisional population percentages in relation to medical cards, GP visit cards, and other selected Department of Social Protection (DSP) payments related to health outcomes for each of the HSE Health Regions.”
The population profiles and the proportion of people with selected Department of Social Protection (DSP) payments were consistent for each HSE Health Region.