Future reforms to UK healthcare will be gradual, not systemic, report finds

The challenge facing Britain’s healthcare policymakers—to satisfy public demand for quality healthcare at a manageable cost—has never been greater. But a new Economist Intelligence Unit report, Doing more with less: Britain’s healthcare funding challenges, which is sponsored by BMI Healthcare, says that any near-term reforms of the healthcare system will most likely be incremental, rather than large-scale.

While Britain's health system is in better shape than it was a decade ago, economists and healthcare managers interviewed for the report say that key recommendations of the landmark 2002 review of the National Health Service (NHS) by Sir Derek Wanless, which included the implementation of reforms to improve quality and productivity, had not been fulfilled. Nor is there evidence that the public has raced to adopt healthier lifestyle options, also recommended by the Wanless review, to relieve pressure on the healthcare system.

The Wanless review spurred the government to dramatically increase NHS funding, but financial pressures on the British healthcare system are likely to rise after the 2011/12 comprehensive spending review, given the weak state of the public finances. Meanwhile, the Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts demand for British healthcare services to rise at a faster pace than GDP over the next five years. This will be driven by an expanding, ageing and increasingly well-informed population, advances in medical science and a steady rise in the incidence of chronic disease, particularly obesity-related illness, among other factors.

Those interviewed for the new report warned that previous attempts to reorganise the NHS, and an emphasis on performance targets, had left staff and managers weary and demoralised. Yet interviewees also noted that the public would be unlikely to tolerate a return to longer waiting times which might result from cuts to frontline services.

Meanwhile, the report describes several recent developments in British healthcare, including the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs), the first example of evidence-based medicine to be enshrined in the healthcare system. It argues that such approaches, if combined with initiatives designed to improve relations between different parts of the healthcare system, will relieve pressure on the healthcare system without requiring expensive, top-down reforms.

“Several important policy steps are available which could help to relieve some of the cost and demand burdens on British healthcare,” says Iain Scott, senior editor, Economist Intelligence Unit. “If they are going to work, any reforms ought to rely less on fiddling with institutions and structures, and more on changing the culture of the health service and getting to the root of how to advance the quality of care."

Doing more with less: Britain’s healthcare funding challenges
is available free of charge at
www.eiu.com/sponsor/bmi

Press enquiries:

Joanne McKenna, press liaison, +44 (0) 20 7576 8188, joannemckenna@eiu.com
DIain Scott, Senior Editor, +44 (0)20 7576 8251, iainscott@eiu.com

Notes for editors

Doing more with less: Britain’s healthcare funding challenges is an Economist Intelligence Unit briefing paper sponsored by BMI Healthcare. This paper took as a starting-point the 2002 and 2004 government-commissioned reports on the National Health Service by Sir Derek Wanless. Recent research by The King’s Fund, the Social Market Foundation and the National Health Service’s own institutions provided additional material for the report, along with separate Economist Intelligence Unit research. The author also conducted in-depth interviews with leading economists and managers in the British healthcare system.

About the Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit is the world leader in global business intelligence. It is the business–to–business arm of The Economist Group, which publishes The Economist newspaper. As the world's leading provider of country intelligence, the Economist Intelligence Unit helps executives make better business decisions by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis on worldwide market trends and business strategies. More information about the Economist Intelligence Unit can be found at www.eiu.com or follow us on www.twitter.com/theeiu.

About BMI Healthcare

BMI Healthcare is the acute private hospital division of General Healthcare Group and is the largest independent provider of private health care in the UK. It is committed to providing a consistent, high quality service to local communities. BMI Healthcare has over 60 hospitals nationwide, each serving the health care needs of the local community. More information at www.bmihealthcare.co.uk.