NHS Problems Linked to High Rate Preventable Deaths in UK

The study conducted by King's Fund think tank, links the outcome of the study to the woeful performance of the NHS. It said in its report that less than average spending on the UK health service has led to a shortage in workforce and insufficient equipment unlike in other countries.

However, the review revealed that the NHS did well to spend within its budget and spent less cash on administrative purposes than other nations in the review. According to the government, the NHS ranks high in the list of well-run healthcare systems and that more investment is coming in which will boost service delivery.

As the NHS clocks this July, the think tank compares the UK's health service and those of 18 other health systems including those in Europe, Japan, Australia and the US.

source: bbc uk

Here is the outcome of the investigation;

• The UK was second highest in preventing death from treatable conditions. Only the US ranked higher.

• The UK had one of the lowest levels of life expectancy. However, other factors aside from the quality of NHS care could be responsible for this according to the study.

• The NHS had fewer doctors and nurses per head than in most countries as well as one of the lowest number of hospital beds per capita.

• When compared to its population size, the UK has less equipment than in other nations. For instance, the US has five times as many scanners, and Germany four times

On the plus side, the UK ranked low in the number of people who opted against medical care due to the cost of treatment. Also, only 1 in 10 people interviewed said they had major difficulties accessing NHS care.

Also, the NHS had the sixth-lowest spend on administration- only less than 2% of its budget.

The study also found increasing waiting lists for routine treatments, such as knee and hip replacements in many countries. Waiting times in the NHS according to the review was around average.

In concluding its report, it said that the UK health service was neither a "leader nor a laggard".

However, the author of the report Siva Anandaciva said clearly things had been better in the NHS.

He said; "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.”

According to him, the performance of the NHS is at best, middling and adds that so much more has to be done to reduce the number of people dying early from diseases such as heart disease and cancer.

He however adds that the findings are not suggesting that a different funding model has to be adopted since there was little to evidence that a particular method of health funding was better than another.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "This report recognises the NHS is one of the most efficiently run healthcare systems and we are investing up to £14.1 billion to improve services and cut waiting lists, one of the government's top five priorities."

He also added that these funds will go into paying for new community diagnostic centres and increasing the NHS workforce. The government will soon roll out a workforce plan which aims at increasing the training places for doctors and nurses.

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