NHS Ranks Second Worst in World Healthcare League Table
In a report released by Civitas think-tank, France, Spain, Germany and Japan all outranked the UK on healthcare quality with only the US being worse because it spends far more on health per capita.
With pressure increasing and NHS waiting lists now at a record high 6.2million, the report says that the UK is the sick man of the world.
The data analysed by Civitas think-tank from 2019 used 16 metrics including life expectancy and survival rates for cancer, strokes and heart attacks and found the UK healthcare system bumping along the bottom of the table.
In a cohort of 19 similar countries (which included France, Spain, Germany, Japan) the UK came bottom more often.
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More surprising is that none of the NHS’s hospitals appear in the world’s best 25 in the league table. The highest ranked hospital from the UK in the table was London's St Thomas' coming in 41st place.
Amid the crises caused by the pandemic, the NHS waiting list is at its record high at 6.18million patients waiting for routine operations. Also, ambulance call outs for strokes and heart attacks for the first time ever breach an hour while a record 22,000 people waited 12 hours to be seen in the A&E.
The US who ranked lower because it spends far more on health per capita also had the worst life expectancy and did not appear in some of the tables because of unavailability of data.
If its performance can match the average rate in other countries, researchers say that 6,500 lives could be saved every year in the UK.
However, according to the first International Health Care Outcomes Index, which drew on data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the UK is doing well in helping diabetics avoid limb amputation.
In terms of life expectancy, the UK ranked 17th out of 19 while it ranked worst for stroke and heart attack survival. It also came 16th out of 18 for five types of cancer.
For instance, the UK five-year survival rates for stomach cancer were 17th out of 19 at 20.7%.
Tim Knox, the Study Author had this to say; ‘If what matters most to patients is the outcome of the treatment they will receive, then these findings should be of concern to all... Our uncritical worship of the NHS means that it is difficult to ask questions of our health service and how it ranks against those of other nations.’
It is obvious from this report that a lot has to be done in the NHS to improve healthcare delivery. A patient has to go to the hospital expecting to get better and not to suffer avoidable complications because of negligent mistakes. Every patient has the right to quality healthcare and shouldn’t suffer unnecessarily or lose his or her life due to medical negligence in the NHS.
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