United Kingdom Healthcare System

United Kingdom Health Care Systems
Name
Institution
Introduction
The United Kingdom’s National Health System has evolved over the decades since t of the wake of the Second World War to become one of the largest global health care systems. The National Health Service (NHS) is the United Kingdom’s health care system that became operational on July 5th 1948. NHS is based on the principles of equity, universality, free at the point of delivery and subsidized by central funding. Over the years, NHS has remained a service that is universal to all and that cares for patients not on the basis of their ability to pay but on the basis of their needs and is funded through national insurance contributions and taxes (Grosios et al, 2010). This paper sheds light on the nature of the Health care system in United Kingdom as well as the general health status of the citizens in United Kingdom.
Demographic Characteristic of Population
United Kingdom of Great Britain together with the Northern Ireland are made up of the four countries namely England, wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The population of the English people was approximately 51,809,700 in 2009 constituting 83.8% of the people living in United Kingdom. Health of the UK population has improved and this is indicated by various health indicators. For instant, there was a rise in the life expectancy at birth from 1981 to 2008 by 6.9 years for men and 5.1 years for woman reaching 78.0 years and 82.1 years respectively. The mortality rates for Infants and perinatal has also been on the downward trend since 1976. The perinatal mortality rate decreased from 17.6 deaths in every 1000 live births to 7.6 in 2008 while that of infants decreased from 14.2 in every 1000 live births to 4.7 over the same period of time. The records also showed that there was a decrease in the mortality rates associated with major disease categories. The largest decrease in mortality rates were recorded in the three major categories namely; respiratory conditions (approximately 30% for women and 56% for men), cancers (approximately 10% for women and 22% for men) and circulatory diseases (roughly at 64% for both men and women).
The main illnesses that affect the UK population include circulatory diseases which accounted for 33% of all deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2009, malignant neoplasms/cancer accounted for 28%, diseases of digestive system accounted for 5.1%, diseases of the respiratory system accounted for 14% while the infectious diseases accounted for 1.2%. The most health public concerns are the rising tendency towards alcohol consumption which leads to various alcohol-related deaths, smoking where approximately 20% of women and 24% of men in 2008 were regular smokers as well as the rising occurrences of child and adult obesity (Boyle, 2011).
Availability of services
Health services are offered by the government where hospitals and prenatal care facilities are owned and run by the government through the five regions. These regions also finance specialists, general practitioners, dentists, physiotherapists as well as pharmaceuticals. The 98 municipalities within United Kingdom are accountable for the nursing homes, municipal dentists, home nurses, health...