Comprehensive Report: The Healthcare System of the United Kingdom

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the United Kingdom's healthcare system. It begins with an introduction to the UK and its healthcare facilities, including the National Health Service (NHS). The report then delves into the healthcare workforce, detailing the various categories of health workers and employment statistics. It further examines healthcare funding, explaining how the system is financed and the role of the government. Key aspects such as health system performance indicators, including patient satisfaction, quality of care, and financial performance, are also discussed. A comparative analysis between the UK and Australian healthcare systems highlights similarities and differences in their approaches. The report concludes with a summary of the main points and references used in the analysis.

Running Head: HEALTH CARE 0
Health Care System of United Kingdom

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Health care workforce...........................................................................................................................1
Health care funding...............................................................................................................................3
Role of government...............................................................................................................................4
Health system performance indicators...................................................................................................5
Comparison between United Kingdom and Australia health care system..............................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The United Kingdom is an independent state which is situated at the north west of
Europe. It has a population of 62,262,000 people and the economy consist of Gross Domestic
Product of £2.260 trillion. The UK offers municipal health care facilities to its proper
residents, which is almost around 58 million. The health care facilities are free and paid out
of the general taxation. About 18% of the income tax goes to the health care. Almost around
8.4% of the United Kingdom GDP is spent on health care (Country economy, 2018). The
National Health Services (NHS) is a regulatory body of public health care and was founded
in 1946.
Health care workforce
All people who are engaged in actions which are primary related to health, to improve
health service are known as Health care workforce. The main categories of health workers are
health professional which includes medical doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, dental
nurses, paramedics, midwives, dentists and health associate professionals such as medical
imaging technicians, dental hygienists, pharmaceutical, physiotherapists’ optometrists,
nutritionists (Freund & Everett, 2015).
In 2012 the heath care sector of United Kingdom employed large number of people it
is around 3.7 million which is 13.5% of total UK employees. These represent the growth of
53000 employees (Jayaweera, 2015).

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Source: (Workforce team, NHS digital, 2018).
As at September 30, 2017 the staff working for the NHS as full time employment was
1.21 million, the increase of 17,900 is recorded that is 1.5% since September 2016,
breakdown of these are:
1. For NHS Health community and Hospitals services there is 1.09 million staff was
working, it is an increase of 18,400 since September 2016. This includes staff
working for Support organisation to NHS, central bodies and staff working for NHS
trust.
2. 125,000 Full time employed staff was working in General Practice
3. The independent sector increase from 40,800 to 46,800 from September 2016 to
September 2017 (Workforce team, NHS digital, 2018).
Health care funding
Health care and support services are not totally free in England. The residents have to pay
some amount towards the Health care facilities. The local council may cover some or all
health expenses, but that depends on how much money the person is asked to pay for health

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service and how much money he/she have as savings. The resident need to pay as per
following guide line:
 The person needs to pay full cost of their health expenses if he/she is having more
than £23,250 as saving.
 If resident of UK has less than £23,250 in their account as saving, but or more than
£14,250 in this situation the local council will pay for his/her health care, but then
they need to subsidise £1 to the fee for every £250 of their saving.
 And if the person saving is less than £14,250, the local council will fully pay the
health expenses (England N.H.S, 2016).
Alternative of council funding
The NHS is accountable for finance the certain type of health care facilities that
resident may require. In certain situation, the NHS is also accountable for providing care
needs. If the resident has very complex or sever health issue, they have to complete the
formalities of NHS continuing healthcare. After completing the facilities the NHS will
provide fully financed health care facilities to the resident (England N.H.S, 2016).
Nursing care finance by NHS
The residents are able to obtain nursing care which is fully financed by NHS if:
 The patient is living in nursing home for the treatment.
 And a patient who didn’t complete the formalities of NHS continuing health care but
recommended by some register nurse that he/she are serious and need nursing care
finance.

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The NHS transfer payment directly to the account of home care to finance the nursing care of
the patients. In England the NHS Finance nursing care amounted to £158.16 every week.
(N.H.S Choices, 2018).
Role of government
The responsibilities related to health legislation and general policies in United
Kingdom are lies with the Parliament, The Department of Health and The Secretary of state
for Heath. Under the Heath Act (2006), the legal duty to promoting a health care facilities
that provide health care free of charge, apart from services with are chargeable given to the
Secretary of State. Rights those are eligible for NHS care are summarised in the Constitution
which comprise the right to access to health care without refinement and within certain time
limits for some categories, such as emergency and planned hospital care. The supervision for
overall health system provide to The Department of Health, But day to day responsibilities
for running the NHS lies with the separate body (Thorlby, 2014).
The new health care system start its operations from April 1, 2013 to bring out the goals
set by the Health and Social Act. The health education England and NHS trust development
authority, Public Health England takes their full range of responsibility.
 The main purpose of department of health is to help people in living better and
healthy life.
 The department provide finance toward the health care of residents and shape the
health care in England.
 The department make sure that people who desire or need health care they get full
support from the department to get better treatment and care with full dignity and
respect.

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 The department enables social and health care bodies to deliver services according to
national priorities.
 The department set budget and objectives and control the system on behalf of
Secretary of State (Department of health and social care, 2013).
Source: (Thorlby, 2014).
Health system performance indicators
Indicators of Performance are the popular instrument for determining the quality of
healthcare to facilitate both systematic management and improvement in quality. From past
two decades the policymakers, researchers, regulators and clinician tried hard to advance the
quality to health by applying and designing indicators of performance. There are international
and national tools for ranking the heath care performance. World health Organisation has
tried to rank world health system for insights increased from global comparison (Carinci,
Gool & Mainz, 2015).

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The multiple demands, performance frame work and performance indicator are
usually designed to regulating and observing aspects of healthcare performance. The
organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has circulated 60
international similar indicators to measure heath quality around the world. These indicators
are influential and useful.
Indicator of Performance to measures of health care system includes:
1. Patient satisfaction and experience: There are many tried and tested patients surveys
are conducted by NHS and Care quality commission to analyse level of satisfaction and
experience among the people of UK. Survey in 2016 state that 86% patients are
satisfied.
2. Quality of health care: This can be measured in terms of process and also as outcomes
such as, latest evidence and criteria for treatment, implementation of guidelines and
referrals.
3. Productivity or Quantity of health care: To measures the quantity and productivity of
health care system few measures are considered such as, bed occupancy, throughput of
patients and waiting time.
4. Financial performance: Finance is considered to be a key aspect of health care. UK
government provide a full finance for treatment to its proper residents. NHS increased
its expenditure from £78.881 billion to £120.512 billion in 2016-2017.
5. Safety: as per the safety criteria the UK health care system is a best among rest there in
only 4% people are not in favour but rest believes in the health care facilities provided
by NHS.
6. Availability of staff: In March 2017, across Hospital and Community Health Service,
NHS employed: 106,430 doctors, 285,893 health visitors and nurses, 21,597 midwives,

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132,673 scientific and technical staff, 19, 772 ambulance staff, 21,139 managers and
9,974 senior managers (NHS Confederation, 2018).
In 2017, the commonwealth ranked NHS as the best performing health care system out
of 11 countries which includes Australia, US and Germany. A survey was conduct during
General Election in which 82% of overall public stated their concern about the future of the
NHS which is related with the dissatisfaction in quality of health care. This dissatisfaction
may be rise due to strong media coverage on the human and financial pressure on NHS
which formed the perception to some amount. While accessing the NHS there is disconnect
between the qualities of care perceived by patients versus the general assessment of
measurable health system (Friebel, 2017).
Comparison between United Kingdom and Australia health care system
To achieve sustainable health care system, the role of participation and cooperation of
every health care provider is important. This will help the all participants to achieving quality
health for all. But there are few differences in working style of the Regulating bodies of
Australia and United Kingdom:
Regulating Bodies
The system which governs United Kingdom health care system is National Health
Service (NHS) this system is publically financed. The UK government use some amount of
tax paid by the resident to fund health care. The system governs Australia Heath care system
is Medicare (Bma, 2018).
Funding of Health care service

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In Australia, Federal, state and local government come together to finance the health
care system, while in UK there is a solo source that is General revenue. The Australian
government financed almost around 70% of total health expenses but NHS in UK fully
finances the treatment.
The prescription charges are different in UK and Australia. In NHS there are some
groups which are relieved from paying for prescribed medicine and treatment, it include Kids
below 16, young people 16-18 and enrolled in full time education, people with low income,
people over 60, women who are pregnant and women who have given birth in past 12 months
and people with some disabilities. In Australia prescription is not free for any individual, but
in some cases the PBS does provide aids to those who are having a health care card or
concession card (Health appointment, 2017).
Private Heath
The private sector play very important role in health care system in Australia. The
Federal government presented incentives to encourage private health insurance, which
include 30% rebate on annual insurance premium of private health insurance. In UK it is
private health insurance is initiative by individual. Because the people of UK are much
depend on NHS (O’Meara, 2015).
Conclusion
To conclude, the National Health Services is working effectively in the economy. The
main aim of the regulating body is to provide good health to all residents of the country and
they are doing well. There is increase in Heath care workforce is recorded the residents are
choosing health care as their career, this all because of the proper training and education
provided by the regulating authorities. The Government of UK is playing vital role in

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uplifting the health condition of the country by employing set of rules and regulation in the
health system. The important aspect of the heath care is the UK government is providing free
health care services to the resident of the country. And the performance indicator states that
the health care system of UK is doing very well in comparison of Australia, Germany and
United States.

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References
Bma. (2018). Regulation of healthcare quality. Retrieved from
https://www.bma.org.uk/collective-voice/policy-and-research/nhs-structure-and-
delivery/monitoring-quality-in-the-nhs/regulatory-systems-for-healthcare-quality/
england.
Carinci, F., Van Gool, K. & Mainz, J. (2015). Towards actionable international comparisons
of health system performance: expert revision of the OECD framework and quality
indicators. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 27(2), 137-146.
Countryecomony. (2018). The UK economy at a glance. Retrieved from
https://ig.ft.com/sites/numbers/economies/uk.
Department of health and social care. (2013). Guidance The health and care system explained
Published 26 March 2013. Retrieved from
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-health-and-care-system-explained/
the-health-and-care-system-explained.
England, N. H. S. (2016). Evidence review: pasireotide for acromegaly as third-line
treatment (adults). Retrieved from https://www. engage. england. nhs.
uk/consultation/clinical-commissioningwave4/user_uploads/a03x11-pasiretd-evidnc-
rep.pdf
Freund, T. & Everett, C. (2015). Skill mix, roles and remuneration in the primary care
workforce: who are the healthcare professionals in the primary care teams across the
world?. International journal of nursing studies, 52(3), 727-743.

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Friebel. R. (2017). Measuring quality of health care in the NHS: Giving a voice to the
patients. Retrieved from https://www.health.org.uk/blog/measuring-quality-health-
care-nhs-giving-voice-patients.
Health appointment. (2017). UK health system vs Australia health system. Retrieved from
https://healtheappointments.com/uk-health-system-vs-aus-health-system-essays/.
Jayaweera. H. (2015). MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE UK HEALTHCARE
SECTOR. Retrieved from https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/media/PR-2015-WORKINT-
Background-Report.pdf.
N.H.S. Choices. (2018). NHS Choices, Your health, your choices. Retrieved from
https://www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx.
NHS Confederation. (2018). NHS statistics, facts and figures. Retrived from
http://www.nhsconfed.org/resources/key-statistics-on-the-nhs
O’Meara, P. (2015). A generic performance framework for ambulance services: an Australian
health services perspective. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 3(3).
Thorlby. R. (2014). International Health Care System Profiles. Retrieved from
http://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/england/.
Workforce team, nhs digital. (2018). Healthcare Workforce Statistics: England September
2017. Retrieved from
https://files.digital.nhs.uk/pdf/s/o/healthcare_workforce_statistics__england_septemb
er_2017__report.pdf.