Hospital care waits particularly poor in UK, research finds

New research from the Health Foundation has shown the UK is among the worst performing high-income countries when it comes to hospital waits.

The UK had the longest waits for hospital care compared to other countries in the survey – more than 21,000 people from across 10 developed countries (including 3,000 from the UK) participated.

Analysis of the 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey found three areas of particular poor performance for the UK, including:

• Long waits for specialist care
• Lack of access to out-of-hours care
• Affordability for treatments like dental care

Areas of improvement

Around one in 10 (11%) people waited a year or more for a specialist appointment and one in five (19%) waited a similar amount of time for non-emergency surgery – only Canada is comparable in performance.

“These findings show the UK consistently coming near the bottom of the pack on people’s experience of healthcare compared to other high-income countries,” said Ruth Thorlby, assistant policy director at the Health Foundation.

“It sheds yet more light on just how much work the government has to do to get the NHS back on its feet.”

Only around a sixth (16%) of people believed it was ‘very easy’ or ‘somewhat easy’ to get care during evenings and weekends – without going to an emergency department. People’s experience of seeing a GP fell towards the bottom of the rankings too. It was a similar story on care coordination between healthcare professionals – i.e., GPs and specialists.

Other countries surveyed includes Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US.

Thorlby added: “The UK is not alone in the challenges it faces but the combined effect of the pandemic and below average spending growth has left the NHS in a fragile state.

“The government is right to prioritise bringing down waiting lists, but that can only be done with a concerted effort to improve primary care and ensuring good coordination between hospitals and GPs.”

No quick fixes

The statistics show the varying growing problems in the UK. Last year, three in five (61%) people in the UK waited more than four weeks for a specialist appointment – an increase from just over a tenth (14%).

Other 10-year trends include:

• A quarter of people skipping dental care or dental checkups because of costs in 2023, compared to just one in 20 (6%) in 2013
• The percentage of people who forwent doctor’s consultations for cost reasons rose from just 2% to 7% between 2013 and 2023.

Thorlby concluded: “National and local health leaders also need to be vigilant against creeping costs denying people access to healthcare. Nowhere is this more apparent than dental care where too many people are avoiding treatment due to costs.

“If these trends continue, the risk is that more and more people, particularly from deprived communities, will delay seeking care, which could store up more health problems in the future.

“There are no quick fixes, but the NHS can recover with the right mix of policy change, innovation and investment.”

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