A recent review by think tank, the King’s Fund, has found that people living in the UK are less likely to survive treatable life-threatening conditions, such as heart disease and cancer than those residing in other rich countries. This issue has been directly linked to the NHS.
According to the study, the UK “underperforms significantly” in respect of treating persons with potentially life ending illnesses. This is partly due to the NHS being weakened by years of underinvestment which had led to fewer staff and equipment than healthcare systems in other nations.
The study adds that the UK “performs poorly” due to the number of preventable deaths resulting from illness and injury, and by fatalities that could have been avoided had people received improved or quicker treatment.
However, the think tank did report that the NHS was extremely efficient with its budget, spending less on administration than the health systems of the other 18 nations compared to the study, which included European countries, Japan, the US, and Australia.
The review found:
- The UK had the second worse record in respect of preventing death from treatable conditions. Only the US had a worse rate.
- In terms of life expectancy, the UK had one of the lowest. That said, the study stated that this would be impacted by several factors not linked to the NHS.
- The NHS has alarming low levels of key clinical staff, with fewer doctors and nurses per person than in most other nations. The study has highlighted this as one of the main reasons why the healthcare service is struggling as judged by many of the criteria used in the analysis.
- The UK also has one of the lowest amount of hospital beds per capita and less equipment in comparison to its population size.
- The NHS had the sixth-lowest administration spend – less than 2% of the budget.
The review concluded that the UK achieves only “below average” health outcomes due to its “below average” spending for each patient in the healthcare system. Adding that the UK health service was neither a “leader nor a laggard“.
However, the author of the report, Siva Anandaciva, commented that it was evident that the NHS had “sadly seen better days“:
“While the UK stands out in removing most financial barriers to accessing healthcare and the NHS is run relatively efficiently, it trails behind its international cousins on some key markers of a good healthcare system.
“The pressures of the pandemic on our health service compounded the consequences of more than a decade of squeezed investment.”
“This leaves the NHS delivering performance that is middling, at best, and the UK must do much more to reduce the number of people dying early from diseases such as heart disease and cancer.”
Mr Anandaciva added that the report findings were not, however, an argument for changing to a different funding model.
Later this week, the long-awaited workforce plan to tackle staff shortages will be published by the Government, which Rishi Sunak said on Sunday would be “one of the most significant announcements in the history of the NHS”.
Comment
It is very sad to see the detrimental effects that years of underfunding, budget-cuts and staff shortages are having on the NHS. Whilst it is encouraging that the government has plans to improve staff shortages, it is unlikely this will go far enough given that staff shortages are only one part of the problem. More funds need to be allocated to address the wider issues experienced by the NHS to improve outcomes and ensure that the UK performs at a level that is on a par with other developed nations.
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Carolle White is a Legal Director and Chartered Legal Executive in our Medical Negligence team, which has been ranked in tier one by the independently researched publication, The Legal 500.
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