“Overall, the health systems function remarkably well given their relatively low levels of funding – less money is spent on health as a percentage of gross domestic product than in comparable affluent EU nations like Germany and France. Nevertheless, important health disparities remain between socioeconomic groups despite the existence of advanced health systems that guarantee access to care for all. All of the United Kingdom faces many of the same challenges going forward, including how to cope with the needs of an ageing population, how to manage populations with poor health behaviours and associated chronic conditions, how to meet patient expectations of access to the latest available medicines and technologies, and how to adapt a system that has limited resources to expand its workforce and infrastructural capacity so it can rise to these challenges.”

Source: Cylus J, Richardson E, Findley L, Longley M, O’Neill C, Steel D. United Kingdom: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(5): 1–125.

“While care has never been delivered the same way across the United Kingdom, the health care system is now perhaps more divided than ever, as health policy decisions are made at the level of individual nations. Nevertheless, despite this diversity in the way the systems are organized, some aspects of the regulatory framework continue to operate on a United Kingdom-wide basis in line with European standards.

“United Kingdom Government
“The United Kingdom Treasury (i.e. ministry of finance) determines the budget for health and other social services in England, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive a proportionally similar budget according to the Barnett formula (discussed in Section 3.3.3), based on the Cabinet’s decisions for England. The United Kingdom Department of Health (i.e. ministry of health) is responsible for the health system in England, some United Kingdom-wide regulatory matters and international collaboration where the Department of Health represents not just England, but the whole United Kingdom in dealings with the EU or UN agencies, for example. The Department of Health regularly meets with counterparts in the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

Source: Cylus J, Richardson E, Findley L, Longley M, O’Neill C, Steel D. United Kingdom: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(5): 1–125.

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and several other nations.

Page last updated March 8, 2021 by Doug McVay, Editor.