Freigthening Thought: Britain's NHS is the world's best health-care system, says report

6/18/2014

British health-care provision praised by Washington-based Commonwealth Fund while US is described as the worst in the world

The National Health Service has been praised as the world's best health-care system by an international panel of experts who said it was superior to those found in countries which spend far more on health.

The study, entitled “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall,” also described US healthcare provision as the worst globally. Despite investing the most money in health, the US refuses care to many patients without health insurance and is also the worst at saving the lives of people who fall ill, it found.

The Commonwealth Fund, a Washington-based foundation produced the report. The fund is respected around the world for its analysis of the performance of different countries' health systems. It examined 11 countries, including detailed data from patients, doctors and the World Health Organisation, the Guardian reported.

"The United Kingdom ranks first overall, scoring highest on quality, access and efficiency," the fund's researchers conclude in their 30-page report. Their findings amount to a huge endorsement of the health service, especially as it spends the second-lowest amount on healthcare among the 11 – just £2,008 per head, less than half the £5,017 in the US. Only New Zealand, with £1,876, spent less.

In the Commonwealth Fund study, the UK came first out of the 11 countries in eight of the 11 measures of care the authors looked at. It came top on measures including providing effective care, safe care, co-ordinated care and patient-centred care. The fund also rated the NHS as the best for giving access to care and for efficient use of resources.

The only serious criticism of the NHS was its poor record on keeping people alive. On a composite "healthy lives" score, which includes deaths among infants and patients who would have survived had they received timely and effective healthcare, the UK came 10th. The authors say that the healthcare system cannot be solely blamed for this issue, which is strongly influenced by social and economic factors. Although the NHS came third overall for the timeliness of care, its "short waiting times" were praised. "There is a frequent misperception that trade-offs between universal coverage and timely access to specialised services are inevitable. However, the Netherlands, UK and Germany provide universal coverage with low out-of-pocket costs while maintaining quick access to speciality services,", the report added.

The NHS also outperforms the other countries – which include France, Germany and Canada – in managing the care of people who are chronically ill, the report said.

Dr Mark Porter, leader of the doctors' union, the British Medical Association, told the Guardian the fund's findings were "clear evidence that our much-maligned NHS is one of the top-performing healthcare systems in the world.

"We should not be complacent as we are facing pressures that are threatening the high-quality care that the Commonwealth Fund has rightly praised. A combination of rising patient demand, staff shortages and falling funding is undermining the very foundations of the NHS, as is the constant short-term interference from politicians of all colours."

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to see this because it reinforces that this is a very good NHS, despite the fact that it has such a low level of funding relative to other countries."

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, who has been criticised by some senior doctors for painting an unfairly negative picture of NHS staff and the quality of care provided, welcomed the report. "NHS staff work incredibly hard to care for patients and these encouraging results pay testament to that," he said.

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