Healthcare

The European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), in which Luxembourg participated in 2014, measured:

• the use of healthcare services: in-hospital care and day hospitalisations, outpatient care and home care, medication consumption, preventive healthcare services,
• barriers to accessing healthcare services: needs not met.
  

Use and accessibility of healthcare services

Use of healthcare services

• Consultations: The GP is the preferred healthcare provider of patients aged 15 years or over: more than 4 out of 5 people (82.1 %) have consulted a GP at least once in the last 12 months, compared to 53.9 % who have consulted a specialist. 78 % of those aged 15 or over report having been to a dentist in the past 12 months. In Luxembourg, consultations are more frequent than the average across the European Union (EU), where 75.2 % of people aged 15 or over have consulted a GP, 49.5 % a specialist and 60.1 % a dentist at least once in the last 12 months.
• Use of home healthcare services: In Luxembourg, and on average across the EU, 4 % of people aged 15 or over have used home healthcare during the last 12 months.

Accessibility of healthcare services

In Luxembourg, and across the EU on average, the most commonly encountered obstacles are the time it takes to get an appointment (31 % in Luxembourg and 18.7 % in the EU), followed by cost (16.5 % in Luxembourg and 15.2 % in the EU) and distance or transport problems (3.7 % in Luxembourg and 3.6 % in the EU).

Looking at all obstacles to healthcare use together, the proportion of people who say their healthcare needs are not met is 37.3 % in Luxembourg and 26.9 % in the EU. In Luxembourg, more women than men report having health needs that are not met (40.1 % of women, 34.5 % of men).

Cancer screening

• Breast cancer: more than 8 in 10 women aged between 50 and 69 (81 %) report having had a mammogram in the last 2 years. 5.5 % of women in that age range have never had a mammogram.
• Cervical cancer: more than 8 in 10 women aged between 20 and 69 (83.6 %) report having had a smear test in the last 3 years. 9.9 % of women in that age group have never had a smear test.
• Colon cancer: 25.6 % of men and women aged between 55 and 74 report having had a faecal occult blood test in the last 2 years, or a colonoscopy within the last 10 years.