Theme | Subtheme | Representative quote |
---|---|---|
Personal experience of austerity measures in providing healthcare services | Increasing admissions in public hospital and decreasing resources | “The number of patients coming into the hospitals has risen significantly. The people have started using public hospitals more the past few years […] they decide to come straight to A&E.” (I11) |
Diminishing Access to treatment and medication | “In the past people used to pay their contribution in full and on time. Now there is no access to medication, not because of increased prices for the medication – medication have had more than twenty price drops in the last two or three years according to official sources – but the patient contribution has been increasing constantly.” (I19) | |
Austerity and ideas of professionalism | Disregarding the profession: feeling disvalued and disrespected | “When someone is in the operation room and you pay them €4 per hour to save a life, it’s like you insult their work, there is no question about it. And I should better leave it at that. You just insult what they do.” (I8) |
Challenges to professionalism | “You cannot provide the same care that you want as a doctor and that the patient needs. […] what suffers in this situation is the conversation with the patient. You just don’t have time to discuss, to listen to the patient a bit more.” (I4) | |
Efforts made to maintain professionalism | “This means that regardless of how tired I feel, regardless of how my patient will talk to me, I have to respect them. Yes, by giving a big battle that has a personal cost, I believe that I provide my patients the best I can as a doctor. I really believe that I do my best at least as far as my job is concerned and that I haven’t allowed my standards to fall”. (I3) | |
Professionalism and Ethics | “This is what I mean by swindles. We come up with solutions like this one with the hope to save €5, €10. Even these €5 and €10 are quite important to someone who does not have a job”. (I19) |