British healthcare is ‘bottom of the pack’ compared with other wealthy nations

In a decade, country has ‘slipped from being one of the better performing nations to one of the worst’ owing to rapid increase in wait times

British healthcare is “languishing” compared with other wealthy nations, and is “bottom of the pack” on multiple fronts, a report has shown.
Analysis by the Healthcare Foundation found that patients in the UK got the least time with their GP and were most likely to face waits of a year to see a hospital specialist.
Britain scored worst for being able to get an answer from a GP practice on the same day and for specialists getting access to information or test results.
The research analysed the 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey which compared Britain with nations including Australia, Germany, France and the United States, with responses from more than 21,000 respondents including 3,361 from the UK.
The study showed that 53 per cent of those in the UK were always or often able to get an answer from their GP practice on the same day.
The figure was the worst for all 10 nations, and down from 70 per cent in 2013.
It found that 58 per cent were often or always able to get enough time with their regular GP – the lowest figure across the group, and down from 85 per cent a decade before.
Britain also fared badly for waiting times to see a hospital specialist, with 11 per cent of respondents waiting at least a year for their appointment – the worst of all 10 nations.
The Healthcare Foundation said that on such waits the UK had “slipped from being one of the better performing nations in 2013 to one of the worst in 2023”, with the most rapid increases in waits.
In total, 61 per cent of respondents waited at least four weeks for a specialist appointment in 2023, up from 14 per cent in 2013.
And 22 per cent of patients said their hospital consultant was unable to access information or test results from their regular doctor, a figure which was bottom of the rankings.
The report showed poor access to medical care at evenings and weekends. Just 16 per cent of patients found it very or somewhat easy to get such care.
Only Sweden performed worse, with a figure of just 10 per cent.
The analysis of different healthcare systems found that the UK had fewer financial barriers to accessing healthcare than most other countries, although Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands fared better.
It also showed a sharp deterioration in access to dentists, with 26 per cent of people in the UK skipping dental care or check ups because of the cost in 2023, up from 6 per cent in 2013.
The latest official figures show the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England has risen for the third month in a row.
An estimated 7.62 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of June, relating to 6.39 million patients – up slightly from 7.60 million treatments and 6.37 million patients at the end of May.
The list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.77 million treatments and 6.50 million patients.
Ruth Thorlby, Health Foundation’s assistant director of policy, said: “These findings show the UK consistently coming near the bottom of the pack on people’s experience of healthcare compared with other high-income countries. It sheds yet more light on just how much work the Government has to do to get the NHS back on its feet.
“The combined effect of the pandemic and below average spending growth has left the NHS in a fragile state. The Government is right to prioritise bringing down waiting lists, but that can only be done with a concerted effort to improve primary care and ensuring good coordination between hospitals and GPs.
“National and local health leaders also need to be vigilant against creeping costs denying people access to healthcare. Nowhere is this more apparent than dental care where too many people are avoiding treatment due to costs. If these trends continue, the risk is that more and more people, particularly from deprived communities, will delay seeking care, which could store up more health problems in the future.”
She added: “There are no quick fixes, but the NHS can recover with the right mix of policy change, innovation and investment.”
The countries that took part in the survey were Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the US and the UK.
“The UK stands out for difficulties getting a same-day answer for a medical problem,” the report notes, highlighting separate data showing that more patients struggle to get through to their practice on the phone than find it easy.
Analysts said some of the countries which had shorter waits spent more on healthcare, giving the example of Germany,.
But they noted that higher spending did not deliver better performance in all cases, noting that both Canada and Sweden reported long waiting times that precede the pandemic, and spent more per capita on healthcare than the UK.
Separate research showed almost half of NHS patients have felt their health deteriorate while waiting for admission to hospital.
The mass survey of more than 63,000 people who stayed in hospital last year found the situation had worsened, amid long waits for care.
The results published by the Care Quality Commission show 43 per cent of patients reported that their health deteriorated while waiting to be admitted to hospital in 2023 – up from 41 per cent the previous year.