Launch of the EQ5D-5L Value Set for Ireland

On Tuesday, March 21st, 2017 the Health Economics and Policy Analysis Centre (HEPAC) hosted an event to mark the launch of the EQ5D-5L Value Set for Ireland.  This project has been funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) and forms a central part of the research programme being led by HRB Leader Professor Ciaran O’Neill. In particular, NUI Galway researchers including Luke Barry, Anna Hobbins and Daniel Kelleher, working in collaboration with the EuroQol Group and the Office of Health Economics in the UK, have undertaken a national survey of over 1000 residents to develop an EQ5D-5L Value Set for Ireland. The EuroQol EQ5D-5L instrument is an internationally recognised, utilised and validated tool which provides preference-based health outcome measures for the purposes of informing healthcare resource allocation. This study marks the construction of the first such Value Set for Ireland and will make a significant contribution to the field of health economics in this jurisdiction. In addition to the presentation of the results from the Irish study, the meeting included a number of presentations from the UK, Spain, Poland and Canada which set the international context for the discussion of issues arising from the Irish findings.