Evaluation of Spanish Health System during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Accountability and Wellbeing Results

José Antonio Peña-Ramos, Fátima Recuero-López, Antonio Sanchez-Bayon () and Francisco Javier Sastre
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José Antonio Peña-Ramos: Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Providencia 7500912, Chile
Fátima Recuero-López: Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology, Universidad of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Francisco Javier Sastre: ESIC Business & Marketing School, 28224 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-25

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic poses a challenge for health systems. For this reason, it is essential to evaluate the management of health systems in the face of the pandemic, identifying the factors that may contribute to its failure or success. This management is more difficult in decentralized countries, since in them, health competencies are distributed among different levels of government. This is the case in Spain, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic. Therefore, the aim of this article is to evaluate how the Spanish health system has managed the COVID-19 pandemic. Four factors related to health management are analyzed: transparency, communication, reputation and well-being generated. For this purpose, a quantitative analysis is used with the contrast of secondary sources, such as the Merco rankings or survey data from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Sociological Research Center). The results show that although the flow of communication about the health system increases considerably, such information comes mainly from the media, with a deficit in the transparency of health management. Likewise, although the reputation of the health system increases at the beginning of the pandemic, as it progresses, there is a deterioration in citizen satisfaction with the healthcare management and the services provided, as well as in the well-being generated by them. This study may have implications for decision making by public authorities regarding the different factors of health management.

Keywords: health system; health management; transparency; communication; reputation; well-being; COVID-19; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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