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A recent report from the Nuffield Trust, the Health Foundation, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and The King’s Fund has concluded that the NHS is failing when it comes to treating eight of the 12 most common causes of death.
The NHS performs worse than average when treating breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung disease, respiratory infections, stroke and heart attacks, according to the report, How Good is the NHS?
The report was compiled to mark the NHS’s 70th birthday, and it compares the NHS with 18 similar developed countries on five key topics; the relative strengths and weaknesses of the NHS, the state of social care, NHS funding, the public’s expectations and technology. As well as performance lagging behind in these five areas, the report also highlights consistently higher rates of death for babies at or just after birth, ‘very low levels’ of hospital beds, and the lowest levels of CT and MRI scanners, due to a lack of investment during austerity measures.
On a positive note, the report said the NHS provided unusually good financial protection to the public from the consequences of ill health, and has the lowest proportion of people who skip medicine due to cost.
