What is the UK NHS and how does it differ to other healthcare systems?

What is the UK National Health Service?

The UK National Health service refers to government funded Health and medical services which are free for any UK resident.

It is often referred to as ‘free at the point of use (or delivery)’. This means that any UK resident who goes to see a doctor or is admitted to hospital can do so without being asked to pay for the service.

The government pays for this through public funding. The money is collected through UK residents paying tax and the government then allocates a certain amount of this money to pay for the NHS.

There is actually more than one National Health Service in the UK. This is because the responsibility for healthcare in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has been passed from the UK government to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and Northern Irish Assembly respectively.

These services are known as: NHS England, NHS Wales (GIG Cymru), NHS Scotland and in Ireland, the Health and Social Care Services (HSC).

In these articles we will mainly be discussing NHS England.

How does the NHS differ to other healthcare systems across the world?

There is huge variety in the way that different countries provide healthcare to their populace. Some healthcare systems are nationalised (like the NHS) whereas others are privately run, many have elements of both.

Private Healthcare:

Private healthcare means that medical organisations are run like businesses and compete with one another to provide healthcare services to patients. Patients need to have the means to pay for the medical treatment they receive, either directly from their pocket or by having a healthcare insurance policy which will cover their medical fees. The USA is an example of a country where healthcare organisations are privately run.

Nationalised Healthcare:

Nationalised healthcare systems are run by and provided for by the government, either through taxpayers money or national insurance schemes. The NHS is an example of a nationalised healthcare system. Spain and Italy also have nationalised healthcare systems although they differ in the fact that they are decentralised, meaning that there is often discrepancies in the quality of care or types of treatment on offer depending on which region you are in.

Insurance funded Healthcare:

In some countries, healthcare organisations are nationally run but residents of that country are required to have medical insurance. When a person requires medical attention, it is then paid for by the insurance company. For some people, insurance policies are obtained through employment, whereas others will have to take out their own scheme. Some countries have a government run ‘social insurance’ scheme. France and Germany are examples of healthcare systems with an insurance based healthcare system. Their service is similar to the UK NHS but all patients are expected to have an insurance policy.

Japanese citizens are also expected to have health insurance policies. However, fees over a certain threshold are paid for by the government.

A bit of a mix:

Many healthcare systems have a publicly funded healthcare system but also charge fees for some things (for example, set fees for GP appointments). In other systems the government and the patient share the cost. For example, in Belgium, patients pay for medical services with a special health card. 50%-75% of the cost of this is then reimbursed by the state.

The UK National Health Service is often heralded for the fact that it is both publicly run and also one of the most efficient in the world. However, we will see that there are pros and cons to every type of healthcare system.