UK healthcare ranks just 16th out of 35 European countries

The UK has scored 16th in a report assessing the quality of healthcare across 35 European countries.

The report - which looked at 46 indicators, including infant mortality, suicide rates and time waiting for treatment - ranked the UK below Czech Republic and Estonia, which scored 14th and 15th, respectively.

Only Ireland performed worse than the UK when it came to 'accessibility', such as seeing a GP the same day or the time spent waiting for major surgery.

But the UK was second only to Norway when it came to the best preventative healthcare, such as vaccinations and stop smoking interventions.

Switzerland came out on top overall, marking the first time the Netherlands has been beaten in a decade.

The Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) 2018 report was carried out by the health policy think tank The Health Consumer Powerhouse in Marseillan, France. 

It was written by Professor Arne Björnberg and Ann Yung Phang, who are executive chairman and project manager, respectively.  

They analysed healthcare statistics from each country, before scoring each one points out of a maximum 1,000. 

The UK - which scored 728 points - has fallen in its rankings after scoring 15th in 2017 and 14th the year before.

But since the report began in 2005, the UK has never made it into the top ten due to 'poor accessibility and an autocratic top-down management culture'. 

The NHS started investing millions on reducing waiting times for treatment in 2008.

And it introduced a maximum wait time of 18 weeks between diagnosis and treatment.

Although this led to initial improvements in the UK's ranking in the EHCI's 2012 and 2013 reports, 'much of [this] seems to have been lost by 2018'.

And the UK is now 'on par with Estonia and the Czech Republic in the middle of the field'.