21 November 2023 | Tuesday | Reports
Phase two of the Index, supported by consumer health company Haleon, identifies lack of available appointments; inconvenient hours; distance and cost of travel; and lack of trust in healthcare services as the most widely reported barriers globally. In the UK, while healthcare services are widely available, with only 9% saying they’ve been denied access to services versus 19% of people globally, the data shows that significant barriers remain.
The Index, which this year includes the lived experience of global populations, reveals that only in Canada and France do people have to wait longer to see a GP than in the UK. Just a third of people (35%) in the UK, France (34%) and Canada (31%) say they could see a doctor within 24 hours, compared with 88% of people in Turkey, 87% of people in Rwanda and two-thirds of people (67%) globally. Nearly one in five in the UK (17%) say they would have to wait longer than a week to see their GP versus 7% globally.
This barrier to healthcare accessibility is mirrored across the UK’s healthcare landscape with fewer than a quarter of people in the UK (23%) saying they can access dental services within 24 hours –versus 56% globally – while only 24% of people in the UK state they can access sexual health services within this timeframe (compared with 51% globally).
The UK is not alone in falling down the Health Inclusivity Index rankings as the inclusion of lived experience data in phase two of the Index has seen health inclusivity scores deteriorate across 85% of the countries surveyed, with all but one country scoring below 80 out of 100. The declining scores year-on-year expose a gap between governments’ ambitions of delivering inclusive health policies and systems and the reality of people’s experience of them. High-income countries display the largest gaps, with an average 18-point difference between their scores on inclusive health policies and experience.
Sarah McDonald, VP Sustainability and Social Impact, Haleon, said: “These latest findings reveal the inclusive health ambitions of many of the world’s wealthiest countries are out of step with the reality of their citizens and there is a policy-practice gap that needs to be addressed. In the UK, while healthcare services are widely available, people are struggling to access them creating significant barriers to health inclusion and resulting in the UK’s fall down the Index this year.
“Everyone has the right to live in good health for as long as possible - irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality or disability. We’ll be using this latest data to engage policymakers globally to advocate for greater health inclusion.”
In common with last year’s findings, phase two of the Index concludes that empowering people and communities to have greater agency over their own health is a key driver of inclusion. Low-and-middle income countries outperform wealthier countries in this area due to their focus on community-based services, self-care and health literacy programmes.
In the UK, the Health Inclusivity index reveals that only half of people (50%) say that virtual or telehealth services are available versus 74% in Australia and 72% in Sweden, and 48% globally - so the expansion of these services may be something that could help address the accessibility challenges.
The Index also highlights where people in the UK think they can access useful and trustworthy information about health, with both pharmacists and government websites scoring highly. Pharmacists are most likely to be trusted to provide useful and trustworthy information about health by the Canadians (75%), French (72%), the British (70%) and South Africans (70%). These findings are supported by NHS England’s recent acknowledgement of the vital role pharmacies can play in helping to reduce waiting times and to relieve pressure on GPs by expanding the services they can offer patients - a move anticipated to free up 15 million appointments.
People in the UK also place very high levels of trust in the health information available on government websites, such as the NHS website. Nearly two-thirds (62%) say they can access useful and trustworthy sources versus 43% globally, and more than any other country worldwide.
Jonathan Birdwell, Global Head of Policy and Insights, Economist Impact, said: “Measuring a country’s ability to provide quality healthcare involves evaluating its policy but also its population’s ability to use their healthcare services. That’s why we are pleased to add these lived-experience indicators to Economist Impact’s Health Inclusivity Index. The results of this phase of the Index show that high-income countries still have a lot of improvements to make if they are to effectively turn their policy into action.”
Under phase two of the Health Inclusivity Index, Australia achieves the highest score, followed by Sweden, UK, USA, France, Israel, Canada, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland and Thailand. The full findings of the Index can be found here: https://impact.economist.com/projects/health-inclusivity-index
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