NHS: UK now
has one of the worst healthcare systems in the developed world, according to
OECD report. Hospitals so
underequipped that people are dying needlessly because of a chronic lack
of investment, by Paul Gallagher, 11/4/15
The UK has one of the worst healthcare systems
in the developed world according to a damning new report which
said the nation has an “outstandingly poor” record of preventing ill health.
Hospitals are now so
short-staffed and underequipped that people are also dying needlessly because
of a chronic lack of investment. The verdict, from the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will make embarrassing reading
for David Cameron who denied the cash-strapped NHS is heading for its
worst winter crisis.
Staff are too rushed to
improve levels of care that have in many areas fallen below countries such as
Turkey, Portugal and Poland. Almost 75,000 more doctors and nurses are needed
to match standards in similar countries the OECD said in its annual Health at a
Glance study comparing the quality of healthcare across 34 countries.
While access to care is
“generally good” the quality of care in the UK is “poor to mediocre” across
several key health areas, obesity levels are “dire” and the NHS struggles to
get even the “basics” right, the report said citing a lack of investment over
the last six years.
Britain was placed on a
par with Chile and Poland as countries still lagging behind the best performers
in survival following diagnosis for different types of cancer. The UK came 21st
out of 23 countries on cervical cancer survival, 20th out of 23 countries on
breast and bowel cancer survival and 19th out of 31 countries on stroke.
The organization called
for “urgent attention” to combat high rates of smoking, harmful alcohol
consumption and obesity, which are all above the OECD average, to reduce
premature mortality in the United Kingdom. Some 19 per cent of adults in the
OECD are obese on average, but the figure in the UK is 25 per cent.
While survival after
hospital admission for heart attack and stroke is improving it is “worse than
many other OECD countries” including Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain,
the 220-page study said. The UK is ranked 20th out of 32 countries on heart
attack deaths.
Mark Pearson, OECD Deputy
Director of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, said many medics were too
rushed to improve the care they give.
He said: “At the moment in
the NHS I think there is the risk that people do not have the time to do that.
What they are doing is going through the processes ... rather than being a
learning organization, an organization that can improve.”
He said the UK was doing
“outstandingly poorly” on preventing ill health by tackling issues such as
obesity thanks to lower than average levels of public investment in healthcare
which was mirrored by a “somewhat mediocre performance across the board - from
relatively low staffing levels, to high rates of avoidable admissions for
asthma and lung disease”.
NHS funding had remained
static between 2009 and 2013, the OECD report said. Mr Pearson said the UK was
spending “considerably less” than many OECD countries and that “you get what
you pay for” in healthcare.
The OECD average number of
nurses and doctors is 9.1 and 3.3 per 1,000 population respectively, while the
figure in the UK is 8.2 and 2.8. Nine countries including Greece, Italy and
Portugal have more doctors per head.
Nigel Edwards, Chief
Executive of the think tank the Nuffield Trust, who helped launch the report at
a meeting in central London on 4 November, said 47,700 more nurses and 26,500
more doctors were needed to match the OECD average. The extra staff would cost
the NHS another £5bn a year.
Mr. Edwards also called
junior doctors “the backbone of the workforce in hospitals” rather than more
highly qualified doctors.
His verdict came as Health
Secretary Jeremy Hunt writes to all 50,000 junior doctors in England in a last
ditch attempt to persuade them not to take industrial action. Mr. Hunt’s letter
includes fresh clarification on what the changes involve to their new
contracts, due to come into effect next August, and a few concessions. Basic
pay is to rise by 11 per cent, but other elements, including what constitutes
unsociable hours, are being curbed.
The report said that
spending “out-of-pocket” on health goods and services is low in the UK and
unmet care needs for medical or dental care are also comfortably below the OECD
average. Waiting times for planned interventions such as hip and knee
replacement are now lower than in most other OECD countries reporting
data.
The UK also won praise for
its coverage of vaccinations, such as the flu jab for the over 65s, while
breast and cervical screening rates are well above the OECD average.
“However, too many lives
are still lost because the quality of care is not improving fast enough,” the
report said. “Survival following diagnosis for cancer has increased in the
United Kingdom over the past 10 years, but the UK still remains in the bottom
third of OECD countries in five-year relative survival for colorectal cancer,
breast cancer and cervical cancer, though survival rates are improving at least
as fast as the OECD average. The United Kingdom does not excel at delivering
high-quality acute care either.”
David Cameron refused to
answer Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister’s questions when the Labour leader
asked whether he could guarantee there would be no winter crisis in the NHS. Mr
Cameron said the NHS was benefiting from an injection of £10bn not supported by
Labour at the last election.
A Department of Health
spokesperson said: “We are making the NHS the safest healthcare system in the
world which is why we have invested £10 billion to fund the NHS’s own plan for
its future. We know there are areas where the NHS can improve which is why we
have prioritized investment in the frontline and there are already more than
21,400 extra clinical staff, including 10,500 additional doctors and more than
7,600 additional nurses on our wards since May 2010.
“The OECD report shows
there are many indicators where the NHS continues to be the envy of the world.”
Comments
The UK
needs to lay off their healthcare bureaucrats and buy efficient critical
equipment and supplies and focus on out-patient surgery and home healthcare.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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