Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May;126(5):382-390.
doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.04.016. Epub 2021 May 4.

Providing health services effectively during the first wave of COVID-19: A cross-country comparison on planning services, managing cases, and maintaining essential services

Erin Webb  1 , Cristina Hernández-Quevedo  2 , Gemma Williams  2 , Giada Scarpetti  3 , Sarah Reed  4 , Dimitra Panteli  5
Affiliations

Providing health services effectively during the first wave of COVID-19: A cross-country comparison on planning services, managing cases, and maintaining essential services

Erin Webb et al. Health Policy. 2022 May.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered abrupt challenges for health care providers, requiring them to simultaneously plan for and manage a rise of COVID-19 cases while maintaining essential health services. Since March 2020, the COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor, a joint initiative of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and the European Commission, has documented country responses to COVID-19 using a structured template which includes a section on provision of care. Using the information available on the platform, this paper analyzes how countries planned services for potential surge capacity, designed patient flows ensuring separation between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, and maintained routine services in both hospital and ambulatory settings. Despite very real differences in the organization of health and care services, there were many similarities in country responses. These include transitioning the management of COVID-19 mild cases from hospitals to outpatient settings, increasing the use of remote consultations, and cancelling or postponing non-urgent services during the height of the first wave. In the immediate future, countries will have to continue balancing care for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients to minimize adverse health outcomes, ideally with supporting guidelines and COVID-19-specific care zones. Looking forward, policymakers will have to consider whether strategies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic will become permanent features of care provision.

Keywords: COVID-19; Essential services; Prioritization of care; Service delivery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

We declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
Testing criteria and measures for COVID-19 in Germany Authors compilation based on RKI publications, latest available at
Fig 2
Fig. 2
Providing essential health services in care homes. ,
Fig 3
Fig. 3
Mental health services.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Azoulay E., de Waele J., Ferrer R., et al. International variation in the management of severe COVID-19 patients. Crit Care. 2020;24:486. doi: 10.1186/s13054-020-03194-w. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Callard F., Perego E. How and why patients made Long COVID. Soc Sci Med. 2021;268:113426. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113426. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Comas-Herrera A., Zalakaín J., Litwin C., et al. CPECLSE; 2020. Mortality associated with COVID-19 outbreaks in care homes: early international evidence. LTCcovid.org, International Long-Term Care Policy Network.https://ltccovid.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Mortality-associatedwith... 26 June 2020. Available at.
    1. Eurostat . 2020. Self-reported consultations of a medical professional by sex, age and degree of urbanisation.https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_ehis_am2u/default/ta... Available at.
    1. Eurostat . 2020. Hospital discharges by diagnosis, in-patients, per 100 000 inhabitants.https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_co_disch2/default/ta... Available at: