Quality of healthcare ‘performing equally across the UK’

A new report has shed light on the relatively equal levels of performance witnessed across the NHS in the last decade.

The study from the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation assessed the performance of the NHS on the quality of patient care in all four UK countries since devolution, finding that the gap between England and the rest of the UK has narrowed in recent years.

No single country was consistently ahead of or lagging behind the others in terms of performance, although all four nations saw an increase in investment and staffing levels during the period.

This broadly equal standard of service has persisted despite widely variable policy approaches, including England's greater emphasis on patient choice and the use of private sector providers and Scotland's tougher sanctions and targets.

Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation, said: "There is no shortage of enthusiasm and talent in the NHS, particularly at the coal face. Supporting local clinical teams is likely to be the best long-term strategy to improve the quality of care."

This comes after the previous comparative study by the Nuffield Trust in 2010 examined data up to 2006/07 and highlighted the English NHS as a clear front-runner.