The NHS reform debate remains fixated with money. Budgets, we are led to believe, are directly related to the quality of treatment a patient receives. But in too many areas the same spending in comparable areas is producing widely differing results.
Most patients remain in the dark, thinking that if a treatment is available locally, then a national service will deliver similar outcomes. Yet the NHS’ own data shows this is untrue.
Take mental health. Both North Tyneside and Gateshead have similar health characteristics. They spend similar sums per head on a course of treatment -£214 in North Tyneside and £215 in Gateshead – both above the national average of £205. Yet according to the NHS figures, a patient is twice as likely to commit suicide following treatment in North Tyneside as they are in Gateshead. It is unlikely that patients and their families are aware of the disparity in outcomes between the two hospitals, but given the choice I can hazard a guess where they’d prefer to be treated.
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