Medical doctors and nurses in Britain have “too little time to care” because there are fewer such staff in the NHS than in comparable developed nations.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said its findings were “really disturbing”.
In its major report comparing care and spending across 34 nations, the OECD said that the quality of NHS care is “poor to mediocre” and the UK needs 25,000 more doctors and 50,000 more nurses to match standards in other advanced nations.
Countries with more doctors include Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Israel and Australia.
Basic failings were allowed to occur because doctors and nurses were not given enough “time to care” for patients. The UK was reported to be a “middling to low performer” on care and life expectancy.
The UK lags behind in key areas, including coming 21st out of 23 countries on cervical cancer survival, 20th out of 23 countries on breast and bowel cancer survival and 19th out of 31 countries on stroke.
On heart attack deaths, the UK is ranked 20th out of 32 countries. While survival after hospital admission for heart attack and stroke is improving, it is "worse than many other OECD countries", including Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, the study said.
Spending on the NHS is below average for OECD. There was no growth in spending per person in real terms between 2009 and 2013.
The OECD was critical of lifestyle choices among Brits, calling the nation’s health “dire”. Action is imperative to tackle the UK’s high rates of smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity. 25% of the nation is obese compared to a 19% OECD average.
