Category: United Kingdom

Great Britain is a northwestern European island nation comprising England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The health system serves a population of 67,530,172 as of June 18, 2019, based on the latest United Nations estimates, which ranks 21st globally.

Great Britain has a universal healthcare system that’s government-financed, the National Health Service (NHS). The NHS includes an array of nationally financed healthcare systems in Great Britain. It consists of the NHS (England, Scotland, Wales) and Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care. The NHS provides to all citizens universal care and works grounded in one governing tenet: healthcare coverage is a fundamental human right and the government should deliver it to all persons. The bulk of the NHS bankroll derives from overall taxation and a minor share from a payroll tax for public insurance. The NHS also collects revenue from copayments, private patients’ use of NHS services, and some other subsidiaries. Along with the public health care coverage offered by the government, Great Britain also offers privately-run insurance which can be purchased to supplement the basic coverage. Procurement of private insurance plans is the choice of nearly 12% of the population.

General practitioners (GPs) predominantly provide primary care and function as secondary care sentinels. In 2014, there were 36,920 GPs (FTE), 1,530 patients per GP, in 7,875 practices, and a mean of 7,171 patients per practice. There were 40,443 clinical specialists and an additional 53,786 physicians in training.

Access

As stated in a study of seven developed nations, Great Britain’s healthcare system is one of the world’s most efficient (Chang, Peysakhovich, Wang, & Zhu, n.d.). In Great Britain, rights for those entitled to NHS care are outlined in the NHS Charter; they encompass impartial access to care and for some departments within certain time allotments, like emergency and scheduled hospital care. Every ‘ordinarily resident’ is naturally permitted NHS care, usually at no cost at the point of care, and also members of the European Union. This means that every single person in Great Britain gets access to free healthcare, whether they are children, unemployed, or retired. Basically, the NHS supplies or reimburses preventive services, covering screening and vaccination schedules, inpatient and ambulatory care, physician services, inpatient and outpatient medications, some ophthalmology care, medically essential dental care, behavioral health care, plus care for some learning disorders, some elder care, palliative care, rehabilitation, plus physical therapy, and community-based nurses’ home care. Great Britain has rather short waiting times for preventative care and access to urgent care services after hours but for specialist care and elective, non-emergency surgery lengthy waiting times. There are some problems with the NHS, such as a workforce shortage, lack of beds, and a lack of funding, but as a whole the system runs smoothly and cuts down on a significant number of costs by decreasing the administrative expenses related to insurance paperwork.

Medication Coverage

In Great Britain’s health system, prescribed medications are free in NHS hospitals. A flat copayment applies to outpatient prescription medications (presently GBP 8.20, or USD 11.60, per prescription item). No copayments apply to children under 16 years and full-time students 16 to 18 years, elderly over 60, unemployed/poor people, expecting women and those who delivered in the last year, and cancer patients, other specific chronic diseases, or specific disorders. Prepaid certificates are available at GBP 29.10 (USD 41.10) for three months and GBP 104 (USD 147) for one year for patients needing copious quantities of prescription medications. Regardless of how many prescriptions they require, patients sustain no added costs for the certificate’s duration. In 2013, 90% of prescriptions in England were dispensed free of charge.

Specialist Referral

Within the NHS, referral to a specialist is possibly a moderately more complex process than in the United States. The person must first visit a GP (or go to the emergency room) who will give an early diagnosis and make recommendations for additional care. This may include a referral to a specialist who will then take on the case and collaborate with the GP who will continue to provide continuous care to the patient. This collaborative effort means that information is communicated more easily between practitioners, something that runs less smoothly in the U.S. healthcare service. Waiting times vary significantly from practice to practice. Individuals buy voluntary health insurance (VHI) to avoid potential waiting lists to see a specialist should they need to, have some choice over the specialist they see, and ensure more comfortable surroundings in the event of an inpatient stay. Companies purchase VHI cover for their employees as a fringe benefit or an extension of occupational health services.

Pre-Existing Conditions

The British NHS provides for all preexisting conditions as with emergency care. As the NHS is a provider of care at the point of service, it does not discriminate between preexisting conditions and new ones, and individuals can even make elective choices about their ongoing care, despite the fact that there are waiting lists for some of these services.

Financial Implications

There are no medical bills in the United Kingdom, which means that one implication is that no one will ever go bankrupt from co-pays or insurance policy excess clauses. This means that people can feel secure in their access to healthcare and do not need to save money for emergency medical care, which is something that cannot be said of the system in the U.S. The NHS acts more as a safety net, which could cause some people to be more reckless with their health, but there is no indication of this being a problem within Great Britain or any other country with socialized medicine. Another financial implication is on the macro scale and refers to the hospitals and providers themselves. In Great Britain, providers compete with each other for survival rather than to increase profit. They are somewhat competing for government contracts, which in turn leads to more money, but this is spent on equipment, bills, and staffing.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Great Britain’s universal healthcare system has been analyzed in this essay, access to it, and how it affects patients financially. Comparing it with ours, the American one, it can be said that it overshadows our healthcare system in preventive care, but is inferior in terms of access and waiting time.

References

1. Chang, J., Peysakhovich, F., Wang, W. & Zhu, J. (n.d.). The UK Health Care System. Retrieved from http://assets.ce.columbia.edu/pdf/actu/actu-uk.pdf
2. Foubister T. & Richardson E. (2016). United Kingdom. In Sagan, A. & Thomson, S. (Eds.). Voluntary Health Insurance in Europe: Country Experience [Internet]. Copenhagen (Denmark): European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2016. (Observatory Studies Series, No. 42.). Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK447698/
3. Ginter, P.M., Duncan, W.J., & Swayne, L.E. (2018). Strategic Management of Healthcare Organizations. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
4. Hong, K.P. (2017). Governance Issues in Health Financing. International Encyclopedia of Public Health (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/health-care-financing
5. Osborn, R., Moulds, D., Schneider, E.C., Doty, M.M., Squires, D., & Sarnak, D.O. (2015). Primary Care Physicians in Ten Countries Report Challenges Caring for Patients with Complex Health Needs. Health Affairs, 34(12), 2104–2112. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1018
6. Osborn, R., Moulds, D., Squires, D., Doty, M.M., & Anderson, C. (2014). International Survey of Older Adults Finds Shortcomings in Access, Coordination, and Patient-Centered Care. Health Affairs, 33(12), 2247–55. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0947
7. Penn State University (2016). Great Britain: The National Health Service. Retrieved from https://sites.psu.edu/smithcivicblog/2016/01/16/great-britain-the-national-health-service/
8. Thorlby, R. & Arora, S. (2016). The English Health Care System, 2015. 2015 International Profiles January 2016 of Health Care Systems. Commonwealth Fund pub. 1857.
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University education is an important part of becoming a successful adult, it is a vital component of human development throughout the world. It offers not only the required high-level skills for each field, but also the essential education for educators, doctors, nurses, civil servants, technicians, humanists, businessmen, researchers, social scientists, and a multitude of other personnel. It is these trained people who develop the capacities and analytical skills which drive local economies, promote civil society, teach children, lead successful governments, and make important decisions that impact entire communities. Higher education is so critical that we can get a job that can meet our needs and desires. Employers need a higher form of education that is necessary to advance our culture. There are not many employers that recognize high school graduates as their highest form of education. Employers are looking for people who know what they are doing, and so is our society. Without a college degree, getting a high paying job would be nearly impossible.

The cost of going to college has skyrocketed in recent years with radical changes in tuition fees. Unsurprisingly, it has led many students to doubt whether the advantages that a degree could offer are worth the enormous amount of debt that they will end up in. The average debt figures are making a bleak reading, but is the price still justifiable? In this essay we look at the arguments for and against obtaining a degree at such a cost.

It used to be free to go to school in the United Kingdom. Students were not charged for tuition fee until 1998, but even then, it cost only £ 1,000 a year throughout the UK. Various parts of the UK started to regulate themselves after that, and tuition fees now differs across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Tuition fees in England rose to £ 3,000 a year in 2004, and they rose again to £ 3,375 a year by the end of the decade. In 2012, the government’s total tuition fees for students by England and Wales shot up to £ 9,000 a year nearly double what they were. This amount was immediately charged by 64 colleges, with another 59 costing at least £ 6,000. This estimate can continue to rise in the future due to the number of rises in recent years. The situation is much better for students in other parts of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Government has completely abolished tuition fees for Scottish students that are attending Scottish universities. Tuition fees for Northern Ireland are capped at £ 3,465, but England students, who now have £ 9,000 annual tuition fees to compete with, face an alarming debt level as they graduate. At the June 2017 general election, tuition fees were a major policy point with Labor pledging to abolish them altogether. Introduced in 1998 at a cost of £ 1,000 per year under Tony Blair’s Labor, the issue came to a head in 2010 when the coalition’s LibDem partners voted to raise them. While most activists reject tuition fees, current universities are charging learners to study.

There are pros and cons to be weighed, as with any major decision, especially concerning higher education. Most people believe it is an important part of becoming a successful adult to get a college education. However, some people find it hard to justify the growing investment needed to earn a degree. This is the breakdown of tuition-fee college’s positive and negative aspects.

Positive Aspects

Equality

There is also a strong argument that university education should be free to ensure equal opportunities. This may dissuade students if they have to pay for university education. Theoretically, students may be able to take out loans or work part-time, but this may be enough to deter students from studying and may be able to enter the job market sooner.

Positive Externalities

University education generally provides society with some external benefits. Higher education results in a workforce that is more professional and productive. Countries with high rates of university education have higher levels of innovation and productivity growth in general. There is therefore a reason for higher education being subsidized by the government.

Current Increase in Specialization of Work

The global economy has pushed countries like the United Kingdom to specialize in high-tech products and services with higher value added. Pharmaceutical, organic chemicals, optical and surgical devices, and nuclear technology are the largest export sectors in the UK. Therefore, there is a greater need for qualified students to apply to these high-tech industries. If more students can access university there will be a greater interest in these fields.

Negative Aspects

Will There Be Too Many Graduates?

The number of graduates has grown rapidly. But now a lot of graduates leave university to take jobs that don’t require a degree. Continuing to finance the public expansion of university education is therefore a risk because the economy does not need more students as much as other vocational skills.

Higher Quality of Education

The exponential increase in student numbers means that greater pressure is put on university resources. Because the government is struggling to increase real investment, there is a risk of higher education and research being depleted, allowing UK education to lag behind other nations. When universities are able to charge students, it will help to maintain standards, teaching quality and United Kingdom university reputation

Opportunity Cost

If the government spends millions on university education, there is a risk of higher taxes or less spending elsewhere. There is probably a greater social benefit from the introduction/ providing of vocational training.

Value Education More

You may argue that the interest would be more recognized, if people have to pay to go to college. When higher education is free, students may be able to relax.

Conclusion

In conclusion, whether you see college as a worthwhile cost or not, it may ultimately depend on what your career plans look like. University is a good investment for many students, whether they are financial, academic or personal, who seek a bachelor’s degree. University education is not just for students, but also for the different stratum of the country. Higher education provides learners with knowledge as well as opportunities to survive to livelihood, as it benefits both individuals and society as a whole. It is widely believed that as the world grows, the importance of university will continue to grow.