HEALTH CARE

Contemporary Issues in the Health Care System of United Kingdom

Contemporary Issues in the Health Care System of United Kingdom

Introduction

Medical care in the UK is working on the basis of the National Health Service, which was established after the Second World War. Both then and now, the health service is free for all residents in the UK faces. Not necessarily that they were British subjects, or pay taxes. Citizens of any country of the world, who are temporarily in the UK, can also get free emergency treatment. The British health system is based on the idea of the welfare state. In 1948, the National Health Service (NHS) has been launched, which to this day has a special position in the health policies of Western democracies: which is the prototype of a national health care. The state health system should ensure a better supply of people and cause lower costs.

The NHS is largely funded from general taxation. Only a small portion is covered by social security. The use of the NHS is mostly free. Only in a few of the services the patients make an equity share. For example, co-payments for prescriptions, eyeglasses or dentures are the rule. With more than 1 million employees, the NHS is the largest civilian employer in Europe. It is estimated that over 90 percent of British doctors are employed by the NHS. Nevertheless, they are not state employees. The British Medical Association, the union recognized as a British Medical Association is, from the doctor's fees with the Ministry of Health (Annandale, 1998).

The NHS is a public institution, which is under the direct responsibility of government. It works under the supervision of the four Ministries of Health of the Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) is assumed and is guided by its own bureaucracy, the NHS Executive (NHSE). The NHSE again in England has eight regional bodies (Regional Offices), which occupy an important position in the chain of responsibility between the lowest level and the central office. They are responsible, for example, the implementation of national health policy decisions at the regional level. Below the regional offices are the local Health Authorities (HA) for the operational management of health actually competent authorities. The HA obtained from the NHS a budget that is based on the number of population to be served. The responsibilities of hospitals and doctors in the UK are set out clearly. Ambulatory care mainly includes; GPs (General Practitioner GP), dentists, ophthalmologists. 95 percent of all initial contacts of patients with health care are held on general practitioners who work predominantly in u-group practices.

Discussion

There are number of issues that are currently being faced by the National Health Service of United Kingdom. This issue includes chronic under funding. The spending growth in public health is low by European standards, the average spending to GDP ratio in OECD countries between 1980 and 1998 from 6.9 to 8.3 percent of gross domestic product. In Germany, the share of health expenditure to GDP rose due to the ...