Commonwealth Fund says NHS world ‘best’

The NHS is the “best” and most efficient healthcare system in the world, partly due to its adoption of information technology, says an international study.

The report, by the Commonwealth Fund, compares the US healthcare system to  those in 10 other countries based on their quality, efficiency, cost and performance.

In the report, entitled ‘Mirror, Mirror on the Wall’, the NHS comes out on top in first place, followed closely by Switzerland in second and Sweden in third.

When it comes to “effective care”, the UK again comes first, due to its use of health information technology.

“The widespread and effective use of health information technology in the UK plays a large role in the country’s high score on the chronic care management indicators, as well as its performance on system aspects of preventive care delivery,” says the report.

“All coun­tries, however, have room for improvement to ensure patients uniformly receive effective care.”

As well as the US, the countries included in the report are: UK; Switzerland; Sweden; Norway; New Zealand; Canada; France;  the Netherlands; Germany; and Australia.

The UK also comes out on top when it comes to having medical practices with “multifunctional clinical information technology,” which the report defines as having an electronic patient record system with “two or more functions for ordering, patient informa­tion, panel information, and decision support.”

In 2012 the fund, which is a US-based private foundation working to promote a “high performing healthcare system”, did a survey of 8,500 primary care doctors in nine countries on their use of electronic records.

EHI reported at the time that in the study the NHS came first, with more than two thirds of UK GPs using electronic records.

The Commonwealth Fund used information from its 2011-13 policy surveys of patients and GPs, who discussed their views on their countries’ health systems, which includes the 2012 survey.

Its report is also based on evidence from the World Health Organisation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development as well as its own 2011 national health system scorecard.

The US comes last in the report and underachieves “on most dimensions of performance. Despite being listed as the most expensive healthcare system in the world.

The report also says that the US, which the UK often looks to for inspiration when it comes to technology, has had a slower adoption of EPRs than the NHS.

“Significant incentives now encourage US providers to utilise integrated medical records and information systems that are accessible to providers and patients. Those efforts will likely help clinicians deliver more effective and efficient care,” says the report.

The fund has published four previous editions of ‘Mirror, Mirror on the Wall’ in 2010, 2007, 2006 and 2004. In the 2010 report the UK came second, with Switzerland on top.