Having dealt with the sometimes dry area of tax and benefits in response to Sara Valor’s article (Awesome job. I know I said it before but its all good), I decided to add another element and talk a bit about healthcare in United Kingdom but concentrate in England. This is because Wales, Scotland and Ireland have slightly different health-care provisions and I do not know enough about them to make any real comment.
Healthcare in England is provided by the public health service known as the National Health Service (NHS for short). It is free and is paid by the taxpayer (about £99 bn was spent on it in 2008-9). However, there are still a wide variety of private and alternative treatments for those who want to pay for them. The NHS provides a wide range of treatments although there are some charges that are applied for things like eye tests, some dental care and prescriptions. The healthcare provided by the NHS includes dentistry, accident and emergency (short and long term patient care) and primary care. It was formed in 1948 by the National Health Service Act 1946. Private healthcare still exists but is used and seen as a ‘top up’ to the NHS. The UK government is responsible for the NHS but it does not get involved in the daily management of the health service. This is left to the Department of Health headed by the Secretary of State for Health (Health Secretary as they are sometimes known). There are also regional and non regional trusts that deal with certain aspects of the NHS.
For the first time since its formation, the NHS has adopted a formal constitution which lays out its responsibilities, principles and aims for providing healthcare to the public. Some of these guiding principles are:
- Provision of a comprehensive service which available to everyone regardless of age, gender, race, religion etc
- Access to the NHS is not based on someone’s ability to pay but on their need of whichever service they are looking for.
- High standards of excellence in all aspects of care for patients and their families and carers. This will be continually monitored and improved based on best practice
The constitution also states that healthcare will be amongst other things:
- Free of charge
- Non-discriminatory
- Obtainable from any UK NHS provider (or with approval from EEA)
- Never refused without just cause
There are other other areas dealt with such as a patient’s right to be treated with respect, care and professionalism. But it would take too long to list them, but for more in depth look, click here.
If someone needs specialist care at a hospital or clinic, their GP will help them decide. The GP will contact the hospital about their patient’s condition and the hospital will decide how urgent it is. Okay in some cases, it has gone wrong with the patient waiting too long or very rarely the wrong care given but on the whole, the average waiting time is about 3-5 weeks. If the patient cannot wait, they can use private healthcare but they will have to pay for almost everything.
Treatment
When in an NHS hospital, almost all treatment is free. That includes the drugs, surgeries and appliances used. If a patient chooses to be treated as a private patient in an NHS hospital, then of course they will be billed (you cannot have your medical cake and eat it too…)
Accident and Emergency (Emergency Department) treatment is also free. Patients are prioritised based on their medical problem. If the need is deemed minor, the patient can either wait for up to 4 hours or referred somewhere else like a GP or a walk in centre. In addition to this, the NHS provides Palliative care for all types of conditions such as cancer. Again this is free to the patient.
There has been some negative press about the NHS but the general public are very supportive of it with over 90% of hospital patients happy with their care as well as 87% of outpatient users. Being the daughter of an NHS Consultant as well as being having being a patient in the past, I am somewhat biased. It has been excellent. They try to the best they can despite the doom and gloom and budget cuts and I say keep it up people and I am proud of the work that they do.
I hope that this gives some insight into the way healthcare works in England. If you have any questions, comments or insights, you know what to do. Live long and well and take care readers…
