The NHS in England is more efficient than elsewhere in the UK, a new study has revealed.
A unique analysis of the performance of the NHS across the four countries of the UK has found striking differences in performance, funding and staff levels.
Despite being found to spend less and have fewer doctors, nurses and managers per head of population, the findings indicate that the NHS in England is delivering higher levels of activity, crude productivity of its staff and lower waiting times.
The report by the independent health charity the Nuffield Trust examines the performance of the health services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland across three time points – 1996/7, 2002/3 and 2006/7. It also examines the performance of the ten English regions and compares them with the NHS in England as a whole and the NHS in each of the devolved countries in 2006/7.
Performance was tracked against a number of key indicators, including expenditure, staffing levels, activity (outpatient appointments, inpatient admissions and day cases), crude productivity of staff and waiting times.
Scotland was found to have the highest levels of poor health, the highest rates of expenditure, the highest rates of hospital doctors, GPs and nurses per capita. In 2006, Wales had the lowest rate of day cases but the highest rate of outpatient attendances, while Northern Ireland had the lowest rate of outpatient attendances but the highest rate of inpatient admissions and day cases.
Dr Jennifer Dixon, Director of The Nuffield Trust, said: “Some of the differences and trends may be because of the historical differences in funding levels, which are not directly related to policies implemented after devolution. But some will reflect the different policies pursued by each of the four nations since 1999, in particular the greater pressure put on NHS bodies in England to improve performance in a few key areas such as waiting and efficiency, via targets, strong performance management, public reporting of performance by regulators, and financial incentives.”
