Compared with Grenada, the United Kingdom has a health care system which comprises of the National Health Service and Social Services. Social security is also part of the program which is aimed at providing a basic standard of living for people who are unemployed and help for poor families. The NHS is the main element of the British welfare state which provides health coverage to ninety percent of the population. It has an estimated one million staff with a budget of forty one billion pounds (Rudolf, 2006). An estimated 1. 4 million people receive help from the NHS annually while more than five hundred thousand are treated at NHS hospitals.
An estimated ten thousand babies are delivered by NHS nurses. Surgeons belonging to NHS perform an estimated twelve hundred hip operations and three thousand heart operations. The NHS provides primary care by using health professionals like doctors and dentists. The NHS has a staff of one million people. It is Europe’s largest employer (Rudolf, 2006). Hospitals provide secondary care in the United Kingdom. There are an estimated three hundred general hospitals in England. They provide services like radiology, pathology and anesthetics. These hospitals provide emergency care services for many people.
Patients can attend these hospitals for a short time or longer stay depending upon the level of treatment required. Some hospitals operating under the NHS provide specialized care like dialysis, heart transplant, liver transplant and treatment for rare diseases. Recently the British government has launched an initiative using public and private sectors to support NHS hospitals and services. Grenada’s health care system does not have an adequate national insurance scheme which covers all the citizens. However compared with the United States, it still provides its citizens some form of health insurance.
Another critical problem faced by the health system in Grenada is the lack of funds and modern technology which is available for American and British health care system. Both the British and American health care systems are very advanced and have much better sources of funding as compared with Grenada’s health care system. Many hospitals and clinics are not adequately equipped or modernized in Grenada to meet the demanding needs of the population. One of the positive aspects of the health system in Grenada as compared with the US and Britain is the cheap availability of drugs through a national drug list.
Finally the system needs to be decentralized and delegated like the British and American health care systems.
References:
Rudolf Klein (2006), The New Politics of the NHS: From creation to reinvention. Radcliffe Publishing Gorin S, Moniz C. Will the United States ever have universal health care? Health Soc Work. 2004 Nov;29 Health in the Americas, 2002 edition. Washington, D. C.: Pan American Health Organization, Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Regional Office of the World Health Organization, 2002.