NHS 'needs to learn from America'

4 November 2009 07:04pm

The NHS needs to learn from the United States in terms of preventative care, and become less of a "pick-up-the-pieces" system, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Burnham called for a move away from the old "diagnose-and-treat" approach in the UK in favour of "predict-and-prevent".

But in the face of strong criticism by an American right keen not to see a similar service adopted in the US, he stood up for the NHS, saying that reforms over the last decade had put it well placed to face the challenges of the future.

"It has two enduring strengths. It is inherently efficient, as people only take out what they need and there is no duplication. Secondly, its underlying values continue to inspire and motivate its staff and speak to the vocation of health professionals," Mr Burnham said.

The address to the Washington-based think tank the Urban Institute came amid fierce debate over the future of health care in the US. President Barack Obama is attempting to force through widespread reform to a system that is expensive yet leaves some 47 million Americans uninsured. But plans to bring in a public option to drive down costs and extend coverage have been bitterly opposed by political opponents amid heavy lobbying by the insurance industry.

During the summer, free-market pressure groups ran a number of adverts attacking the NHS, using a handful of disgruntled patients to demonise state-run health care. It led to a backlash from the UK, with the "welovetheNHS" campaign crashing the Twitter site, such were the numbers signing up to support the UK system.

"As you might have picked up, we're quite proud of it," Mr Burnham said in reference to the NHS. The health secretary said he had no intention of wading into the US health care debate but was keen to correct misapprehensions about the NHS. He also suggested that there was one clear parallel between the situation the US found itself in today with that of the UK in 1997.

"Back then, millions of British people did not have acceptable access to health care," he said. But through "an aggressive programme of investment and reform" the NHS slashed waiting times and ensured that nobody was denied the care they needed, Mr Burnham said. Politically, the intellectual battle about healthcare had been won, the health secretary added.

But he admitted that more needed to be done and that the UK system could learn from the US, which "leads the world in preventative care".

"In short, we want to take the best of the US system and make it available to all," he said, noting its emphasis on preventative care. Mr Burnham added: "We've got to get beyond being passive and waiting for ill people to enter the system. Treating people in hospital is not a sign of success, but often of some failure that has brought them there in the first place."

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