Health figures put Wales in line with UK average
WALES is performing about as well as the UK as a whole across a range of health outcomes and in some cases better, according to newly collated statistics.
National branches of the NHS covering England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were asked by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to collate data that can be compared to see how the respective health services are performing.
Last year the OECD reported that in broad terms there was little to choose between the four services in terms of quality of care and treatment.
Now, in the first of what is intended to be a regular release of comparable statistics, the NHS has published performance indicator results across 13 parameters.
In all four countries, life expectancy for men and women has increased significantly since the turn of the 1980s. In 1980-82, UK males had a life expectancy of 70.81 years, with those living in England on 71.08 years, in Wales on 70.43, in Scotland on 69.11 and in Northern Ireland on 69.17 years.
Life expectancy for females in 1980-82 was 76.8 across the UK as a whole, and 77.04 in England, 76.36 in Wales, 75.31 in Scotland and 75.54 in Northern Ireland.
By 2013-15, the UK male life expectancy had risen to 79.09, and 79.38 in England, 78.41 in Wales, 77.09 in Scotland and 78.28 in Northern Ireland. For females, life expectancy had risen by 2013-15 to 82.82 in the UK as a whole, and 83.06 in England, 82.26 in Wales, 81.14 in Scotland and 82.27 in Northern Ireland.
“Healthy life expectancy” rates – predicting the period people can expect to live in a “healthy” state – have only been measured since 2009 and have remained fairly static. Across the UK as a whole, healthy life expectancy for men in 2009-11 was 62.7 and for women 63.9. In 2013-15 the figure for the UK as a whole was 63.1 for men and 63.9 for women.
Males in England had healthy life expectancy of 63 in 2009-11 and 63.4 in 2013-15, while in both sets of years it was 64.1 for females. Men living in Wales had healthy life expectancy of 61.4 in 2009-11 and 61.5 in 2013-15, while for females the figures were 62.3 in 2009-11 and 62.7 in 2013-15. In Scotland, healthy life expectancy for men was 61.1 in 2009-11 and 61.8 in 2013-15, and 63.1 for women in 2009-11 and 62.8 in 2013-15.
In Northern Ireland, men had a healthy life expectancy of 60.07 in 2009-11 and 61.5 in 2013-15, with women on 62.6 in 2009-11 and 62.0 in 2013-15.
Across the range of parameters, there is no clear pattern of one nation being consistently better than another, with a mixed picture for most nations.
However, in indicators based on acute care, including death within 30 days of hospital admission and patients receiving surgery within 48 hours for hip fracture, Wales and England are very similar, with Scotland having the highest – or worst – rates, except for hip fracture where they are similar to the UK average, and Northern Ireland having the lowest – or best – rates, apart from hip fracture where they are below average.
In terms of avoidable admissions, managing new health complaints that pose no immediate threat to life and managing long-term conditions, Wales is generally similar to England, with Scotland and Northern Ireland tending to have higher – or worse – rates than Wales and England for some of the indicators.
Overall, across eight of the indicators Wales’ performance is similar to the UK average. Four indicators show Wales to be below – better – than the UK average, while one shows Wales to be above the UK average: obstetric trauma during vaginal birth delivery without instrument.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said: “Today’s stats show that for a range of quality of health care measures, when compared to the other home nations, Wales is broadly comparable and close to the UK average.
“I’m pleased that in some areas – stroke mortality rates, asthma hospital admission, diabetes amputation rates for females and foreign body left during procedure rates – we’re performing better than the average: this is good news.
“This information is helpful to see where we are in terms of other nations, but most importantly it helps us know where we can do better for the people of Wales.
“These figures provide us with a useful way of measuring and comparing, where appropriate, the quality of health service provision in the UK. As the numbers of indicators increase over time we look forward to seeing how our innovative health policies are having an impact against the other home nations.”
The newly published statistics do not touch on one of the most controversial areas relating to NHS performance: patient waiting times.