6. Health care system

a) What organizations all over the world do you know that provide health care? What functions do they perform?

b) Look through the text about the National Health Service in the UK. What are the main functions of the organization?

The National Health Service (NHS) was launched in 1948. 1. _____. With the exception of some charges, such as prescriptions, optical services and dental services, the NHS in England remains free at the point of use for all UK residents. This currently stands at more than 64.6 million people in the UK and 54.3 million people in England alone.

2. _____. It covers everything, including antenatal screening, routine screenings (such as the NHS Health Check), treatments for long-term conditions, transplants, emergency treatment and end-of-life care.

In 2014, the Commonwealth Fund declared that in comparison with the healthcare systems of 10 other countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the US) the NHS was the most impressive overall. The NHS was rated as the best system in terms of efficiency, effective, safe, co-ordinated and patient-centred care and cost-related problems. It was also ranked second for equity.

Scale

The NHS employs more than 1.5 million people, putting it in the top five of the world’s largest workforces. The NHS in England is the biggest part of the system by far, catering to a population of 54.3 million and employing around 1.2 million people. Of those, the clinically qualified staff include 150,273 doctors, 40,584 general practitioners (GPs), 314,966 nurses and health visitors, 18,862 ambulance staff, and 111,127 hospital and community health service (HCHS) medical and dental staff. The centre of National Health Service is the general practitioner (GP). 3. ____. The GP diagnoses, gives medical certificates, prescribes medicines. Dentists and opticians usually have separate clinics. They are not parts of health centres. 4. _____. Ward nurses take care of the ill in the hospital. Much attention is paid to the educational programmes. The Department of Health provides anti-smoking and alcohol education campaigns, cancer prevention programmes. Much attention is paid to AIDS and drug addiction programmes. 5. _____. They are trained at 16 universities. Besides, they get practice during their work at teaching hospitals.

c) 5 sentences have been removed from the text. Think of the sentence which best fits each of the gaps.

1. Each person is registered with a certain doctor in his or her area.

2. The British government pays much attention to the qualification of doctors.

3. It was born out of a long-held ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth – one of the NHS’s core principles.

4. The NHS in England deals with over 1 million patients every 36 hours.

5. District nurses give injections, physiotherapy exercises at people’s homes.

d) Choose the most appropriate synonyms to the words in bold:

1) to launch

a) to send

b) to start

c) to appear

2) equity

a) fairness

b) equipment

c) right

3) antenatal

a) a rod to transmit signals

b) relating to pregnancy

c) relating to human characteristics

4) condition

a) medical problem

b) appearance

c) quality

5) optician

a) a doctor who tests people’s sight

b) a doctor who performs operation on eyes

c) a scientist who studies optical illusions

e) What do the following numbers from the text mean?

1.2 million, 111,127, 1948, 64.6 million, 54.3 million.

Healthcare System in Belarus

The Belarusian Constitution guarantees the right for all citizens “to healthcare, including free treatment at state health-care establishments.” Medical treatment at medical centres or hospitals is provided free of charge, and conforms to state minimum social standards.

The main owner and manager of the healthcare system in Belarus is the State. The leading role of state medicine in protecting the population’s health is supported by law, and the system itself consists mainly of medical centres and hospitals subordinate to the Ministry of Health and managed by a vertical power structure. In addition, there are also departmental clinics (of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc).

Primary medical treatment is provided by a large number of day care clinics (separate for children and adults), as well as first-aid offices that employ only middle-level medical staff. Treatment is provided strictly in accordance to a person’s place of residence or location. So if you are reside in Mogilev you can’t get regular treatment in Minsk until you register. Primary emergency aid is provided by the emergency medical services which employ both middle-level staff and doctors.

Funding for the healthcare system is provided by the state budget. The private medicine sector in Belarus takes up about 5% of the total amount of medical services and is represented mainly by dentistry. This sector is not developing because of the high standards set by the government for such businesses, as well as regulatory constraints on their income. Meanwhile, the state medicine sector is promoting services which need to be paid for privately, meaning that medical treatment may become less affordable to Belarusian citizens, especially regarding complex, lifesaving hi-tech operations.

While WHO experts acknowledge the achievements of the Belarusian healthcare system in providing accessible medical services to the population, they note a decreased accessibility in the countryside, where there is a lack of medical staff. The decrease in maternal and infant mortality is another achievement observed by the WHO, although it was noted that these results may have been achieved not only through the efforts of the Ministry of Health, but by increased living standards.

The healthcare system remains vulnerable to potential economic reforms which could affect funding levels, asset allocation and management.

Here are some answers to the questions. Think of a possible question to each answer:

• The Belarusian Constitution

• the State

• according to a person’s place of residence

• mainly dentistry

• in the countryside

• increased living standards

What flaws of Belarusian healthcare system have been mentioned in the article above? Can you think of other drawbacks? What are the possible solutions? Discuss in groups.