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Clinical Negligence Solicitors

NHS “has lower cancer survival rates” than other nations (6 July 2015)

Date: 06/07/2015
Duncan Lewis, Clinical Negligence Solicitors, NHS “has lower cancer survival rates” than other nations

A review by the Nuffield Trust think tank into 15 wealthy nations has found that the NHS is lagging behind other countries in preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and improving cancer survival rates.

BBC News reports that the review found that NHS had lower cancer survival and higher death rates from heart attacks and strokes compared with healthcare systems in other countries.

The NHS did perform “better” than other nations in immunisation and antibiotic prescribing, however.

The review looked at 27 different indicators – and compared performance between 15 nations from 2000 to 2012, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Greece, Japan, New Zealand and the UK.

UK performances for immunisations suggested that the GP system for providing universal care was working well, the review said – and despite prescribing rates for antibiotics rising in the UK, overall prescribing rates tended to be lower than in many countries.
The review also found that rates of avoidable hospital admissions were high for conditions such as asthma and respiratory disease – and death rates for stroke and heart attacks, while improving, tended to be higher than in other countries
Screening rates for cancer remained high – but survival and death rates were still worse than other nations, the review found.

Chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, Nigel Edwards, said:

“Interpreting international data on healthcare systems is notoriously tricky and any comparison should be handled with care.

“However, it is clear from this analysis that the UK can and should do better.

“Our poor performance on cancer survival compared with other leading countries is well-known and continues to be a concern.

“We enter the new parliament with a mountain to climb in reducing preventable hospital admissions and improving survival from common killer diseases, all at a time of continuing austerity affecting public services.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said:
“The report shows we've made significant progress in quality across the board.
“The NHS is already perhaps the most equitable system globally – and we are now focusing on tackling preventable conditions like obesity and type two diabetes.”

A separate report by the King's Fund think tank suggests, however, that many NHS trusts will have larger budget deficits by the end of this year, with nearly two-thirds out of 100 trusts polled saying they were “likely to be going into the red this year” – compared with one in four this time last year.

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