Headlines can be misleading, and NHS performance ones certainly are. It’s difficult to compare when England and Wales set targets differently, compile them differently, and publish data at different times, finds Jenny Sims
It’s widely acknowledged that the NHS is “in crisis” in both England and Wales. Are there differences in approaches to this crisis between the two countries—and, if so, is that showing any divides in performance improvement?
Published performance data differ considerably for the two nations, but show undeniably that both are failing to meet patients’ needs and demands. Underfunding by the UK government (see box) is blamed as the key cause of the common problems including long elective waiting lists, emergency waiting times, and ambulance response times; recruitment and retention; and, of course, pay.
### Investment per capita
The BMA report Health Fund Data Analysis, published on 6 April, found that healthcare spending is “uneven across the UK” and has not increased enough to keep up with demand.13
“In the five years before the pandemic, healthcare spending per person was lowest in England compared with each of the UK nations and spending in Northern Ireland was highest,” it says.
Healthcare spending per person increased significantly in 2020-21 because of additional covid funding. Spending in Wales rose from £2910 per person in 2019-20 (when it had ranked second in the four nations table) to £3448 in 2020-21. England, which had ranked fourth, rose to third place when it increased its spend from £2776 to £3514, knocking Wales to the bottom of the table. Northern Ireland remained top at £3724, and Scotland jumped from third to second place with £3724.
The BMA in England has rejected the government’s pay offer, junior doctors have just gone on strike for the third time this year, and consultants are being balloted over whether they also …