Course:DHYG404/TeamUK
Hello everyone, I have created this page for our group posting and development of our paper. Thank you - John
Hey all-- I attached my answer to number 1 here. I tried not to go into toooo much detail because I know we have a word limit and I had to refrain from overlapping other people's questions (pros/cons, integration/comparison with Canadian systems etc) Any feedback would be grealy appreciated! -- Alyssa
Health Care in the UK
The United Kingdom uses a publicly-funded health care system governed and maintained by the National Health Service (NHS). Coverage is universal and covers “preventative services; inpatient and outpatient (ambulatory) hospital (specialist) care; physician (general practitioner) services; inpatient and outpatient drugs; dental care; mental health care; learning disabilities and rehabilitation”(1). National taxation is the health care system’s main source of funding, while a small percentage comes from national insurance contributions (2). Private health care is available as an option from the NHS and allows for a wider range of specialists, avoidance of wait-lists for non-emergency surgeries and a higher calibre of comfort and privacy (1). Private practitioners are allowed to set their own rates and are not reimbursed for their work by the public system, whereas general practitioners are paid directly by primary care trusts (PCTs) via salary, capitation, and fee-for-service methods (1). The NHS is regulated by the NHS Executive as well as the Department of Health and “is provided through a series of contracts between commissioners of health care services (PCTs) and providers (hospital trusts, GPs, independent providers)”(1). Three governing bodies, consisting of the Healthcare Commission, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Mental Health Act Commission, regularly evaluate and assess the NHS’ practicing standards and quality of care. Every three years, the government sets a budget for the NHS to utilize, 85% of which is mostly controlled through PCTS (1).
1. Boyle s. The UK Health Care System. [document on the Internet]. LSE Health and Social Care, London School of Economics and Political Science; 2008 [cited 2009 Oct 11]. Available from: https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/lc1709617746141.tp1709617767141/RelativeResourceManager/sfsid/2367892312191.
2. Health care systems in eight countries: trends and challenges [document on the Internet]. European Observatory on Health Care Systems 2002. Available from: http://www.euro.who.int/document/OBS/hcs8countries.pdf
Oral health in Canada and UK The health care systems of Canada and UK are both “regularly subject to the claim that they are the best in the world” with sharing the common values (3). Nonetheless, despite the existence of publicly funded universal health care system in both countries, dental services are not fully incorporated into their health care systems’ value of universal access to care at no charge. In Canada, dental care is categorized as “supplemental services” and only certain groups of people get direct funding from the federal government; these groups compose of approximately 1 million people (1). “These groups include: First Nations people living on reserves; Inuit; serving members of the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; eligible veterans; inmates in federal penitentiaries; and refugee protection claimants”(1). Similarly in UK, people without any sort of private dental insurance pay about 80% of dental costs only specific groups have free coverage for the dental services through NHS dentists (2). These groups include: “children and young people under 18 years old or under 19 and in fulltime education; pregnant women and women who have had a child in the past year; people in receipt of Income Support, Working Families' Tax Credit, income-based Job-Seekers Allowance or Disabled Person's Tax Credit”(2). There are two types of dentists in UK; they are either private or NHS dentists and the government sets fixed costs for most dental treatments for NHS dentists. NHS dentists can be seen by anyone in UK and the costs are generally at least half the prices of what private dental office would charge (4). NHS dentists saw 53.4 per cent (27.3 million) of the population in the 24 month period ending 31 December 2008 but the issue of waiting lists for seeing a NHS dentist still exist (5). Though certain financially disadvantaged groups and younger population get some financial help such as through Healthy Kids program in Canada and through NHS dentists in UK, a large proportion of people in both countries still need to pay a large amount out of their own pockets through private insurance. In UK, approx 1 in 4 patients fully pay 80% of the costs due to lack of other private insurances (2). As a result, the private insurance market is growing for dentistry in UK as well (2). These findings clearly indicate how oral health is not significantly thought of as part of the overall health care system despite many research findings demonstrating the relationship between oral health and systemic health. In order to achieve holistic approach to care to align their health care system with the common value of comprehensive health care, both countries need to greatly publicize the rather privatized dental care system.
1. Health Canada [Internet]. Canada: Canada’s Health Care System; 2005 [cited 2009 Oct 11]. Available from: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/alt_formats/hpb-dgps/pdf/pubs/2005-hcs-sss/2005-hcs-sss-eng.pdf
2. Busse R. Health care systems in eight countries: trends and challenges. London: London School of Economics & Political Science; 2002. 3. http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/Canada.pdf 4. http://www.whatprice.co.uk/dentist/nhs-private-prices.html