Today I went to hospital for an eye check up. I was amazed to see their new equipment. Almost identical to eye-scanning equipment I was examined with in Ankara Turkey 4 years ago. Why is the NHS so late in using the latest technology.
...and this article in todays Daily Mail. I did not need to read all of it. Nothing new to me there.
Turkey seems to care more for its sick than the UK - it seems.
I suppose they are only Mongolians............
Cancer patients failed: Hospitals in Turkey and Slovakia have more scanners to spot tumours early
By DANIEL MARTIN
Last updated at 10:57 AM on 30th June 2010
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Shortage: UK hospitals have fewer high-tech scanning units than other countries
Cancer survival rates in the UK are so poor because hospitals have fewer high-tech scanning units than countries such as Turkey and Slovakia, a study shows.
Despite a huge increase in health spending under Labour, Britain has one of the lowest numbers of specialised scanners to spot tumours early.
Out of 28 industrialised countries surveyed, only Hungary and Mexico have fewer numbers of computed tomography (CT) scanners per head of population.
And only the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Mexico have fewer magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units.
The shortages mean that British patients often have to wait weeks
for test results which could diagnose their cancer - delaying their treatment with life-threatening consequences.
Cancer survival rates in the UK are among the lowest in Europe.
A woman diagnosed with breast cancer has a 78.5 per cent chance of being alive five years later, compared to 82.6 per cent in France and 90.5 per cent in the U.S.
The report, by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents industrialised nations, also found that Britain had fewer hospital beds and fewer doctors than the average industrialised country.
It has led to an appalling situation where life expectancy and infant mortality rates are also higher.
But it is the figures on cancer scans that are among the most stark. The average OECD country has 12.6 MRI units per million people.
But in the UK, the figure is 5.6 - above only the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Mexico.
The British figure is far below Ireland (12.3), Greece (21.
, the U.S. (25.9) and Japan (43.1). It is even below Turkey (6.9) and Slovakia (6.1). And the differences are even greater with CT scans.
The UK figure is 7.4 machines per million population, three times less than the 23.8 OECD average and lower than Turkey (10.2), Germany (16.4) and Australia (38.
.
Again, Turkey and Slovakia have more scanners.
The report said: 'During the past decade, there has been rapid growth in the availability of diagnostic technologies in most OECD countries.
'Although the United Kingdom has also seen some increase in such technologies, the number of MRIs in 2008 was 5.6 per million population, less than half the OECD average of 12.6.
'Furthermore, the number of CT scanners stood at 7.4 per million population, less than three times the OECD average of 23.8.'
Last night Sarah Woolnough of Cancer Research UK insisted patients 'have timely access to the tests', adding: 'When cancer is caught early, treatment is more likely to be successful.'
The report revealed that Britain's spending on healthcare is £2,075 per person - around the OECD average.
But the rise in spending since 2000, at 4.6 per cent every year, is higher than the average.
This has helped pay for more doctors, from two physicians per 1,000 population to 2.6 in 2008. This is still lower than the OECD average of 3.2, however.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z0sLzOYPQK
