Healthcare is high on the list of concerns for Britons according to a new survey. The survey of citizens in the US, UK, Germany and India found that waiting times for operations emerged as a key concern for Britons and that UK respondents felt they had little or no influence over where and how they were treated, compared with any of the other three countries covered in the survey.
The research appears in Health Reform: The debate goes public, a new report written by the Economist Intelligence Unit and commissioned by Philips. Asked whether they were satisfied with various aspects of their country's health systems, only 18% of British respondents expressed satisfaction on waiting times for operations, versus 30% in the US. One quarter of UK respondents said they would be willing to pay to reduce these waiting times, a far higher proportion than in the other countries.
Respondents in the UK also said they were not encouraged to choose from a range of doctors or hospitals for their treatment, even though they would like the option to do so, while in the US respondents felt that choice was encouraged.
Although Britons were significantly less satisfied than Americans on some aspects of healthcare, they were notably more satisfied with the quality of their physicians. Despite their dissatisfaction with some aspects of the NHS, fewer than one-quarter of UK respondents said that private-sector involvement would improve the healthcare system.
'This report finds that for healthcare reforms to be effective and receive the public support they need, policymakers must strike a bargain.' said Iain Scott, the editor of the report.
