19.07.17
NHS ranked best in world despite low GDP spend
The NHS has been ranked top in a study of 11 health services from around the world by a leading international think-tank.
Findings uncovered by US-based researchers in the Commonwealth Fund ranked the 11 countries in order for their care processes, access, administrative efficiency, equity and healthcare outcomes.
The UK’s health service ended up coming on top for care process and equity, although it was ranked tenth for healthcare outcomes. This is despite the fact that the UK spent less per GDP on its health service than all the countries involved in the study except for New Zealand, Norway and Australia.
An NHS England spokesperson said that the research was a welcome reminder of the fundamental strengths of the NHS, and a call-to-arms in support of the NHS Forward View’s practical plan to improve cancer, mental health and other outcomes of care.
This wasn’t exactly the view of some health organisations, however. The British Medical Association (BMA) said that though it was right to highlight the successes of the NHS, the report should also be used as evidence for better investment in the NHS.
“This report provides clear evidence that the NHS is one of the top-performing healthcare systems in the world, and the most cost-effective in this study,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair.
“We need to make sure our NHS is protected, invested in and maintained, especially as a combination of rising patient demand, staff shortages and falling funding is seeing the health service reach breaking point.
“These pressures may be a factor in why the NHS has scored lower in the report’s comparison of health outcomes.”
The BMA council chair also highlighted that the study showed that as well as being one of the best performing, the UK was one of the worst funded health services.
“It is unfortunate that funding for public health and social care has been drastically cut, with large chunks of funding set aside for ‘sustainability and transformation’ in England being used to plug holes in hospital finances, and with local decision-makers being told to find billions of pounds of efficiency savings,” he continued.
“To ensure we stay at the top, as well as improve health outcomes, the NHS needs an end to the short-termism that has plagued the delivery of healthcare for too long and the government to agree a long-term, credible plan to deliver the fully funded and supported NHS that staff want and patients deserve.”
(Top story c. Sean Dempsey, PA Images)
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