NHS investment ‘wasted’ as 17,000 die ‘needlessly’
More than 17,000 people die unnecessarily because the NHS is underperforming, a report has claimed.
Based on analysis of World Health Organisation figures, the Taxpayers’ Alliance claims Britons are more likely to be fatally let down by the health service than patients in other European countries.
The government dismissed the report as the publication of a rightwing organisation and insisted extra investment in the NHS is paying dividends.
As chancellor Gordon Brown oversaw the investment of £34 billion in the NHS between 1999 and 2004.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance report looked at “mortality amenable to healthcare” – deaths from illnesses such as flu or infectious diseases which healthcare could reasonably be preventing.
In the UK 135 people per 100,000 die in such “needless” circumstances, compared to an average of 107.
Data from 2004 from France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands was used in the study, with France having the best performance of 91 preventable deaths per 100,000.
To bring NHS performance in line with the rest of western Europe, the Taxpayers’ Alliance calculated 17,157 deaths need to be prevented every year.
In order to achieve this, the Department of Health (DoH) should learn lessons from healthcare systems that “don’t suffer from political management, monopolistic provision and centralisation,” the alliance claims.
Report author Matthew Sinclair said: “Thousands are dying every year thanks to Britain’s health service not delivering the standards people expect and receive in other European countries.
“Billions of pounds have been thrown at the NHS but the additional spending has made no discernable difference to the long-term pattern of falling mortality. This is a colossal waste of lives and money.”
The DoH disputes the findings, insisting the additional investment in the NHS has created 100,000 more doctors and nurses and cut waiting times.
Health minister Ben Bradshaw said: “Mortality rates have been falling steadily and the UK has been narrowing the gap with the best continental EU performers.”
