by Playfuls Staff |
9th January 2007
Britain's National Health Services will plunge deeper into debt because money is being spent wastefully, researchers said [more] Tuesday.
Researchers led by Nick Bosanquet of Imperial College London said the NHS is sinking deeper in debt -- despite gains in real spending -- as money is spent on extra staff and soaring costs, Health Insurance and Protection said.
Deficits, not patient care improvements, drive service reconfiguration, the report for the think tank Reform said. As a result, Britain has a health system that costs as much as systems in other European countries but delivers less.
"The Department of Health has been so busy firefighting that it has not developed a process for getting real value," the report said. "The beginning is the abolition of deficits to allow a fresh start; then investment in new services and competition can follow."
The NHS is going "from strength to strength," a department spokesman said. "Reform has already led to greater choice for patients of where they go for treatment, record low waiting times, a fall in deaths from the big killer diseases and services being delivered in a community setting, meaning increasingly efficient use of resources and better, more convenient care for patients."
© 2007 UPI
