Scottish NHS Lags English in Performance and Costs

News on the TV this morning reported a comparison of performance and costs for health services in England and Scotland. Not surprisingly the English service showed more bang for the buck.

Defending the Scottish system, Health Secretary Nichola Sturgeon pointed out the study related to the ten years up to and including 2006 – out of date. She also implied the numbers didn’t include a measure of quality, let alone the sparse population in Scotland, both of which create context for any cost/performance.

Scottish NHS provides the community with 600 “one stop shop” health facilities where patients receive joined up diagnosis and treatment, all in one organisation. Potentially less cost effective, this adds enormously to value, as recent personal experience illustrates.

Following a fall on the ice last week, we decided my wrist might be broken. A call to the health centre at 8.40 am resulted in a doctors appointment at 10.10 am. An X-ray was deemed appropriate. After a 15 minute ride to Golspie and a 5 minute wait the pictures were taken and reviewed by a doctor in the hospital.

By 11.10 he’d checked out the plates, decided to ask for a second opinion, reviewed them on-line with experts in the Fracture Clinic (55 miles away) and assured me nothing was broken.

Given the bad coverage afforded to the UK Health Service (particularly in the USA) and today’s criticism in the UK, I feel a need to stick up for the health service here in the North.

I defy anybody to claim they get better healthcare, anywhere, and at any cost.

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Tagged as: Add new tag, England, Golspie, Health, Hospital, NHS Scotland, Scotland