Healthcare services across the world could learn from the practices adopted by the NHS, an international review has concluded.
The investigation, carried out for the Commonwealth Fund’s 2009 International Health Policy Survey, said practices in the UK “stand out” for their overall approach to health and performance management, with researchers also commending the NHS’s “systemic” strategy for dealing with chronic care and the incentives it used to support improved performance.
Services also performed well on access to treatment, out-of-hours services and the degree to which electronic medical records were used.
The survey also suggested that countries could further improve their health services by learning from one another.
“Internationally, there is conceptual agreement but also a search for new models to advance primary care,” the researchers said.
“The variations demonstrated in the survey reveal a rich basis for cross-national learning to inform and develop primary care models.”
Health secretary Andy Burnham said the results, which investigated services in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US, were an “important moment for the NHS”.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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