How does the UK NHS compare with European standards?
Author InfoJohn Nixon Abstract Objectives: To undertake a review of the EU member states’ health care systems in relation to a framework of health-related variables, and to determine the position of the UK with respect to all other EU countries in the light of recent remarks by Tony Blair in arguing for the UK to move towards European standards. Methods Hierarchical cluster analysis, in conjunction with scatter plots, was used firstly to formulate country-cluster groups for pairs of OECD Health Data variables within the chosen framework, namely health expenditure as a share of GDP and per capita health expenditure; infant mortality and life expectancy (males and females); number of physicians and number of beds per head of population; average length of in-patient stay and in-patient admission rate. Following this a composite cluster analysis was performed using all nine variables to gain an overall country-cluster solution. Results The solutions reveal a strong association between the
