A Time-trend Analysis for Assessing Density of Healthcare Workforce and Hospital Beds in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Research Problem: Governments are required to evaluate their healthcare related resources in order to determine the healthcare needs of their populations. Healthcare workforce is one of the important element that is essential to provide good quality of healthcare to the populations. Although there is not a standard that has been set for determining the sufficiency of healthcare workforce, World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that if there are less than 23 healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses and midwives) per 10 000 population, coverage rates for prioritized primary healthcare interventions in Millennium Development Goals would be insufficient. Number of hospital beds is also important in assessing the inpatient service availability. There is not a standard to density of hospital beds, however whilst hospital bed density in WHO European region is 60 per 10 000, it is 10 in 10 000 for African region. In Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), healthcare provided in public hospitals are invested through national insurance. However due to political disputes that the government has gone through and the economic barriers that political disputes lead to, there are major problems in the management of healthcare resources. Research Purpose: This study is aiming to assess the trends in the number and density of healthcare workforce and hospital beds in TRNC from 2007 to 2015. Method: A longitudinal ecological study design was employed to conduct time-trend analysis for the health number of healthcare professionals and the density of hospital beds from 2007 to 2015. Descriptive statistics was first applied to analyse the sufficiency of healthcare workforce and the hospital bed density. The trends in healthcare workforce and the hospital bed density were tested using graphical plots, displaying the data over time period from 2007 and 2016. Findings and Results: Assessment of density of health care workforce and hospital beds showed that the average density of health care workforce and hospital beds in TRNC are not beyond those of high-income countries. The private health care services have been developing to meet the health needs of the population, although public insurance do not cover their expenditure, causing high spending of out-of-pocket expenditure, suggests a need for urgent action for health care reform in North Cyprus to plan and develop health care services to compete with private health care sector