The NHS will be looking to the private healthcare sector in the next 10 years to help meet the demands of an already overloaded welfare system, according to an analysis of private health care in six key European countries.
The report, commissioned by the Economist Intelligence Unit, describes systems like the NHS as no longer “sustainable” and predicts an “explosive growth” in the private sector.
Extra pressure is being put on systems like the NHS with its limited resources by a swell in the ageing population and increasing demand for the latest medical treatment from patients who scan the internet.
State funded health care is also under pressure in western Europe because of the rise in infectious diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, and more control of healthcare policy from the European Union is also likely to put up costs.
The author of the report, Vivienne Kendall, a healthcare writer, said that the private healthcare market in the United Kingdom had levelled off in recent years in terms of the numbers of people taking out all-embracing policies.
“But more patients are making individual decisions and negotiating with private health care providers for one-off operations,” she said.
In the report, analysts ranked each country according to its likelihood of in-creasing private healthcare ventures. They scored each country on government attitude to the private sector; regulation and competition from the state; prospects for project financing and private insurance; the development of technology; attitudes towards managed care; and consumer activism.
The Netherlands came out on top as the most likely country to cooperate with the private sector, followed by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain.
Prospects for Private Healthcare in Europe is available from the Economist Intelligence Unit (tel: 0171 830 1007; email: london@eiu.com), price £775 ($1295).