A new study by the King’s Fund has found that the UK is worst at saving stroke victims while “underperforming significantly” on cancer and life expectancy.
Britain’s healthcare system has far worse outcomes than almost all of its peers, a damning international study has warned.
The research published on Monday by respected think-tank the King’s Fund compared 19 major nations and found the UK severely wanting.
Britain’s health service was second worst of all those examined for saving lives, with only the US faring worse. The UK was found to be worst at saving stroke victims and second worst at saving heart attack sufferers, while “underperforming significantly” on cancer and life expectancy.
Life expectancy was found to be one of the shortest among comparable nations, with only the US worse for women, and the US and Portugal worse for men.
It also scored third worst, after the US and Portugal, for efforts to keep citizens healthy.
The research shows Britain consistently lagging behind its peers for cancer survival, one of several factors dragging down life expectancy.
The in-depth study, drawn up ahead of the 75th anniversary of the NHS, found Britain scraping along the bottom of international league tables for a catalogue of key outcomes.
The NHS has long been a scared cow with both NHS workers and large sections of the public unwilling to see that it needs change, but it does need urgent reform.
Not only does it need reform but it also needs a large infusion of funds to be able to build capacity to deal with the massive backlog of operations that are in the system and deal with not only an aging population but also a fast growing one.
The NHS lacks the modern equipment such as high tech scanners that many other major health care systems have in abundance. We need investment in preventative medicine with regular health checks and an increased use of AI to assess results and other services.
On top of that, we need to recruit and train far more health professionals, trained here at home and not imported from abroad. Those professionals also need to be paid fairly and have working conditions that do not place them under excessive strain.
We cannot expect the changes to happen overnight but they have to happen. To facilitate this, we need politicians who are willing to take the risk of being unpopular by changing the way the NHS works. The NHS, like many other public services, needs a long term strategy that will see them thrive in the future.
