Room for NHS improvement, despite international ranking
pharmafile | November 11, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Andrew Lansley, NHS, healthcare, international healthcare
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has been banging the drum for the NHS on the world stage during a speech in the US – but said there was still room for improvement.
He told an audience at the Brookings Institute in Washington DC that his modernisation plans will ensure improved quality of care and better results for patients built around the needs of the individual.
“In England, we already have universal access,” he said. “But it is not universally excellent; nor universally responsive to patients.”
However, with Lansley’s reforms in the Health and Social Care Bill representing a massive reorganisation of the NHS, it might be seen as inconvenient that a new report has found the UK’s health service in its current form performs better than those of most developed countries.
The Commonwealth Fund’s annual survey – comparing services in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the US as well as the UK – praised the NHS record on patient access, safety and doctor-patient relationships.
However, the Department of Health says the study does not show that “there are still problems in the NHS that need to be addressed”.
Lansley joined in a roundtable discussion about the survey, which focuses on affordability and access, care co-ordination, patient safety, relationships, chronic illness management and primary care, with health representatives from the other 11 countries.
He referenced a recent report from the Patients Association into hospital care, which threw up harrowing examples of mismanagement by NHS nursing staff, particularly around patients not being given pain relief, toilet assistance and help with eating and drinking.
Lansley said the lobby group’s report shows that there are still issues around quality of care across the country. “Many parts of the NHS provide really good care, but some fall short of what patients expect and deserve,” he said.
Lansley insisted that his Bill gives doctors the power to design and buy in local health services “because they are best placed to improve health outcomes”.
“Health outcomes are the things that really matter most to patients,” he went on. “Things like survival rates, recovery rates, whether people can live independently and with dignity. A patient’s overall experience of healthcare – everything we do flows from this principle.”
Adam Hill
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