Transcript Slide 1

Health and Dental Care
• National Health Services (NHS) are
free except for eye tests, glasses,
dental work and prescription drugs
• Each citizen is required to register
with a primary care physician (GP)
• The GP will provide referrals to see a
specialist or for hospital services
• Treatment at hospitals is free for all
UK residents
National Health Services
• The NHS is controlled by a
centralized, bureaucratic and
inflexible government agency in
which administrators, managers,
supervisors, performance
assessors, accountants and many
other none productive personnel
outnumber the doctors and nurses
that provide treatment to the
patients
Health Care
• NHS guidelines set the waiting time
for hospital treatment at 13 weeks
for the first outpatient appointment
and 6 months for inpatient
treatment
• There is a 2 week wait to see a
specialist for a suspected cancer
and 2 months for cancer treatment
Health Care
• A recent EU survey rates the NHS in
13th place in terms of patient
satisfaction
• Problems cited were lengthy waits
for specialist care and the failure to
provide drugs that are routinely
available across the rest of Europe
• A major issue raised was the micromanagement of medical staff by
setting a multitude of targets of
costs and patients treated, etc.
Health Care
• In an effort to reduce costs the NHS
has closed emergency rooms in many
small hospitals and emergency care is
now only available at the larger
regional hospitals
• Over the past 4 years the government
has closed nearly 400 specialist
nursing homes that treated dementia
patients. Patients have been
transferred to general homes for the
aged where specialist care is not
normally available
Health Care in Britain
• In the UK there is a 46 percent chance
of a woman dying from breast cancer
compared to a 25 percent fatality rate
in the United States
• Men have a 57 percent chance of dying
from prostate cancer in the UK
compared to a 19 percent chance in the
United States
• More and more of those that can afford
to pay for treatment are going to
consultants at private hospitals or even
overseas for treatment
Dental Care
• The NHS provides dental treatment
with a maximum charge for complex
treatment being set at £198 with
most treatments ranging from
£16.20 to £44.60
• During the past several years so
many dentists have opted to drop out
of the NHS that those that can afford
it go to a private practice rather than
wait months for treatment
State Education
• Coeducational “One style fits all”
• Performance monitored by the
number of passes in state exams
• To improve performance levels
examination standards have been
progressively reduced over the
past ten years
• Students have been encouraged to
study soft subjects to ensure more
passes
Education
• Fortunately some “relics” of the
old system of education remain.
• Some towns and cities retained
the grammar schools that provide
a more classical education
required for university entrance
• Very elite public (private) schools
like Eton and Harrow continue to
provide high quality education for
the rich
State Education
• Recent studies show that maths tests set
today are much easier than those of
twenty years ago.
• Questions are simplified to make them
more relevant for modern teenagers
• Pupils now gain a good grade with less
than half the marks needed in 1990
• Exams have gone from academically
challenging to being woolly, touchy-feely
with very little intellectual merit
State Education
• It has recently been revealed that two
thirds of teachers allow pupils to use
slang and text message speak in
school tests
• Teachers are being compelled to
“teach to test” to meet the demands of
the exam rankings tables
• This requires the learning of facts with
no reference to logic or the basics of
the subject
State Education
• All this is the product of “social
engineering” designed to push more
students from lower income families
into higher education
• Schools are being told by the
government that they must operate in
a way that promotes social equality
and equity
• That is, educate the pupils to the
lowest common denominator and
don’t allow the brighter students to
advance more rapidly
Higher Education
• The government goal for schools to
promote social equality and equity is
based on the premise that all students
should have the opportunity to get a
university degree
• There has been a lot of complaints from
business and industry about the lack
of ability shown by university graduates
with supposedly high level degrees
• Universities are beginning to reject
students whose academic qualifications
are in “soft” subjects and practical
courses
Higher Education
• University tuition in the U.K is set at
£3,145 for the year 2008/2009
• Financial support is available
• The main sources of financial
support are loans and grants from
the government and bursaries from
the universities and colleges.
• Student loans and grants are also
available to help meet
accommodation and living costs
Housing
• Owner occupation is the most
common form of accommodation in
England
• In 2007 there were 14.7 million
owner occupied homes, 3.8 million
social renters and 2.7 million private
renters
• The existing social housing population
is ageing and younger families are
moving to owner occupied homes
when they can
Social Housing
• Social homes are those that are built and
provided for rent by local government or by a
subsidized housing association
• In 2007/2008 47 percent of new social homes
had 3 or more bedrooms and 45 percent were
apartments
• There is a Right to Buy law that helps
tenants to buy the house that they occupy
• The government is committed to build 3 million
new social housing units by 2020
Social Housing
• 72 percent of all new households in
social housing are headed by a person
aged between 16 and 29
• They are most likely to be single
parents and unemployed
• The housing is provided as a part of
their income support and welfare
• An average rent for a 3 bedroom
home is £61.24 per week and £55.97
for a 3 bedroom apartment
Owner Occupied Housing
• In November 2008 the average price
of a house in the U.K was £163,445
• This is 124 percent higher than it was
10 years ago
• In the Greater London area the
average home price is £264,723 while
in the northeast of the country the
average price is £128,590
• The required down payment on a
house is currently 18.1 percent