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A country’s Health Service includes all the activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore and maintain health and these general objectives are observable worldwide, whether we are discussing the efficiency of our own UK NHS service or any other country. Expectations are greater than ever before bringing greater demands and pressure on health systems. Especially in developed countries, there has been success in prolonging life and reducing disability bringing a greater burden on health services. Consumers are now using the services for a wider variety of problems ranging from concerns with birth control through to information about diets.
The World Health Report aims to lay an empirical basis for assessing health system performance around the globe using recommendations based on evidence rather than ideology. The report stresses that physical and mental wellbeing increases are no longer the only emphasis health systems should be driving for and outlines other key objectives. ... This report caused great political controversy as it is the first such report produced that goes some way to comparing our own system to other countries. In this essay I will evaluate whether ranking health services is a waste of time by first outlining the key objectives of the World Health Report, discuss the key criteria and weights used in the report, before giving reasons for and against the system. I will conclude by explaining why I personally believe the current report, with major refinements and development, will help Health Services lead to greater efficiency in the future.
The World Health Report measures and ranks the efficiency of services across the globe through generating a league table of performance because the WHO believe there is enough in common so that systematic comparisons can point up good and bad performers. In order to do this the report outlines five key goals of health services world wide. These are:
1 Maximising population health
2 Reducing inequalities in the system
3 Maximising Responsiveness
4 Reducing inequalities in responsiveness
5 Fair Financing
The figures for the individual health level have been compiled through analysis of the disability adjusted life expectancy (DALE) within each country with inequality calculated through the child mortality index using data available from 50 countries, with data extrapolated to give figures for other countries. ...
The theory is that these five objectives depend upon how well systems carry out four vital functions of service provision, resource generation, financing and stewardship and leads us to believe that the responsibility of a health service must lie with government. ... They decided to give maximising population health, reducing inequalities and Fair financing each 25% of the weighting whilst giving the final two of maximising responsiveness and reducing inequalities in responsiveness 12. ... These ranking scores were achieved through rating scales and scores rather than by offering respondents direct trade-offs.
Approximate Word count = 2258
Approximate Pages = 9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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