Fire-hosing cash into the National Health Service has not produced the hoped-for results, judging by a recent consumer survey of European healthcare systems.
The NHS budget has more than doubled to £100 billion a year within 12 years, with at least three years of real-terms growth of seven per cent.
A major report in 2006 by the King's Fund into the unprecedented cash injection found some gains but established that only a quarter of the money actually improved services for patients. Most went on pensions and salaries for the service's 1.6 million staff.
Another indication that the money could have been better spent came last month from the Euro Health Consumer Index, which ranks national health care systems on 38 factors. These include treatment outcomes, waiting times, patients' rights and information.
Britain came 14th in 2009 and 13th in 2008. Despite the Government's drive to cut waiting times - because of their association with the huge problem of hospital-acquired infections – the NHS emerged badly on waits.
Perhaps more significant, however, is that the NHS has never performed as well as it did in the first consumer survey, in 2005 – before most of the refunding had come into effect. In 2005, the UK came in ninth. The following year it slid to 15th and slipped a further two places in 2007 to 17th.
However over the five-year spread of the index, health budgets across Europe have also increased, suggesting that the NHS has to continually up its game to keep place in the league.
In 2009, the NHS came one place below Ireland (13th) and one above Italy. The lowest rated countries were Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia and Albania.
The survey is carried out annually by Health Consumer Powerhouse, independent researchers based both in Brussels and Stockholm.
In 2009, the top countries from 33 in the table were 1 The Netherlands, 2 Denmark, 3 Iceland, 4 Austria, 5 Switzerland, 6 Germany, 7 France, 8 Sweden, 9 Luxembourg, and 10 Norway.
Now tell us something we don’t know.
Angus
Angus Dei on all and sundry
AnglishLit
Angus Dei politico
1 comment:
Thanks Angus for providing the stats that confirm what most who read your blog feel; The NHS is really crap! And sadly it is getting worse despite the huge injection of MY cash they have been given. Yes it is personal; the b******s had close to 30k off me last year just so they could screw up my life and bring my wife close to death and leave her disabled and traumatised.
As an Analyst and Scientist I do not place much credence on anecdotal evidence usually, but in the last year, I know of a number of good personal friends and aquaintances, who have been treated by the NHS in an appalling bad manner. Some have been affected very badly, and one actually died.
Maybe it's that my radar is now set to fine but I hear of things (and I don't mean on the blogs) virtually every day. It is getting worse and information like this provides the proof. But the Government will take no notice as Prof. Nutt was only too pleased to tell us; evidence and best practise are simply there to be ignored and the NHS is only too happy to oblige on that score.
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