Healthcare in the United Kingdom Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, meaning England, Northern Ireland, Scotland

and Wales each have their own systems of private and publicly funded healthcare Each country having different policies and priorities has resulted in a variety of differences e!isting between the systems "#$"%$ &hat said, each country provides public healthcare to all UK permanent residents that is free at the point of need, being paid for from general ta!ation In addition, each also has a private healthcare sector which is considerably smaller than its public e'uivalent, with provision of private healthcare ac'uired by means of private health insurance, funded as part of an employer funded healthcare scheme or paid directly by the customer, though provision can be restricted for those with conditions such as (I)S*HI+ ",$ &a-en together, the World Health .rgani/ation, in %000, ran-ed the provision of healthcare in the United Kingdom as fifteenth best in Europe and eighteenth in the world "1$"2$ ( more recent report, the 3ommonwealth 4und 5irror, 5irror on the Wall survey of seven first world healthcare systems, ran-ed the United Kingdom as second overall, ta-ing first place in subcategories including effective care and efficiency "6$ .verall, around 7 1 per cent of the United Kingdom8s gross domestic product is spent on healthcare, which is 0 29 below the .rganisation for Economic 3o:operation and )evelopment average and about one percent below the average of the European Union ";$ Norfol- and Norwich University Hospital, a National Health Service hospital 5ost healthcare in England is provided by the National Health Service <NHS=, England8s publicly funded healthcare system, which accounts for most of the )epartment of Health8s budget <>?7 6 billion in %007:?"7$= &he actual delivery of health care services is managed by ten Strategic Health (uthorities and, below this, locally accountable trusts and other bodies "?$ Social care services are a shared responsibility with the local NHS and the local government )irectors of Social Services under the guidance of the )H 4rom the birth of the NHS in #?17, private healthcare has continued to e!ist, paid for largely by private insurance In recent years, despite some evidence that a large proportion of the public oppose such involvement,"#0$ the private sector has been used to increase NHS capacity In addition, there is some relatively minor sector crossover between public and private provision with it possible for some NHS patients to be treated in private healthcare facilities"##$ and some NHS facilities let out to the private sector for privately funded treatments or for pre: and post:operative care "#%$ However, since private hospitals tend to manage only routine operations and lac- a level , critical care unit <or intensive therapy unit=, une!pected emergencies may

lead to the patient being transferred to an NHS hospital"#,$ as very few private hospitals have a level , critical care unit <or intensive therapy unit=, putting the patients at greater ris- and costing the NHS money &he two main -inds of trusts in the NHS, reflecting purchaser*provider roles, are commissioning trusts such as @rimary 3are &rusts which e!amine local needs and negotiate with providers <that may be public or private entities= to provide health care services to the local population, and provider trusts which are NHS bodies delivering health care service &hey will be involved in agreeing maAor capital and other health care spending proAects in their region "?$ Services commissioned include general practice physician services <most of whom are private businesses wor-ing under e!clusive contract to the NHS=, community nursing, local clinics and mental health service 4or most people, the maAority of health care is delivered in a primary health care setting @rovider trusts are care deliverers, the main e!amples being the hospital trusts and the ambulance trusts which spend the money allocated to them by the commissioning trusts Hospitals, as they tend to provide more comple! and speciali/ed care, receive the lion8s share of NHS funding "#1$ &he hospital trusts own assets <such as hospitals and the e'uipment in them= purchased for the nation and held in trust for them "?$ 3ommissioning has also been e!tended to the very lowest level enabling ordinary doctors who identify a need in their community to commission services to meet that need @rimary care is delivered by a wide range of independent contractors such as B@s, dentists, pharmacists and optometrists and is the first point of contact for most people Secondary care <sometimes termed acute health care= can be either elective care or emergency care and providers may be in the public or private sector, though the maAority of secondary care happens in NHS owned facilities "#2$ &here are also <as of %00?= %16 5emory clinics in the United Kingdom "#6$ &he NHS 3onstitution covers the rights and obligations of patients and staff, many of which are legally enforceable "#;$ &he NHS has a high level of popular public support within the countryC an independent survey conducted in %001 found that users of the NHS often e!pressed very high levels satisfaction about their personal e!perience of the medical services they receivedC ?%9 of hospital in:patients, 7;9 of B@ users, 7;9 of hospital outpatients, and ;09 of (ccident and Emergency department users "#7$ However, only 6;9 of those surveyed agreed with the statement D5y local NHS is providing me with a good serviceE, and only 2#9 agreed with the statement F&he NHS is providing a good service "#7$ Satisfaction in successive surveys has noted high satisfaction across all patient groups, especially recent inpatients, and user satisfaction is notably higher than that of the general public &he report found that most highly recalled sources of information on the NHS are perceived to be the most critical &he national

press was seen to be the most critical <619=, followed by local press <219= and &+ or radio <2#9= compared to Aust #,9 saying the national press is favourable= &he national press was reported as being the least reliable source of information <209 reporting it to be not very or not at all reliable, compared to ,69 believing the press was reliable= "#7$ Newspapers were reported as being less favourable and also less reliable than the broadcast media &he most reliable sources of information were considered to be leaflets from B@s and information from friends <both ;;9 reported as reliable= and medical professionals <;29 considered reliable= "#7$