From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-394968-821581
NORWICH, England (UPI) -- Britain's National Health Service and
private healthcare are not providing enough basic care to a large
portion of England's population, researchers said.
The independent study of quality of care involved 8,688 people age 50
and older and looked at 13 different health conditions including heart
disease, diabetes, stroke, depression and osteoarthritis.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia studied whether effective
healthcare interventions were received by people age 50 and over with
serious health conditions.
They used questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and medical-panel
endorsed quality-of-care indicators, for both public and privately
provided care, as part of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, showed huge
variations by health condition in whether people with particular
health conditions received the appropriate intervention or care they
should. Sixty-two percent of the care recommended for older adults was
actually received.
Treatment for ischemic heart disease rated well, with 83 percent of
appropriate care actually being given, but 29 percent of recommended
care was received by people with osteoarthritis.