Angus wonders….what all the private investment in care fuss is about

Recently I was fortunate enough to be invited to a seminar in Newcastle as part of a programme of events to bring closer scientific and economic ties between Sweden and Northern England.

Life Sciences and Healthcare are key industrial pillars in Sweden and so a whole day was dedicated to promoting reciprocal healthcare, business, investment and knowledge transfer opportunities between the two countries.

The Key Note Speaker was Dr Robert Sinclair, MD, PhD, Senior Medical Advisor, Department of Health Care, Region Västra Götaland and his talk was on "Swedish Life Science and Healthcare - Past, Present and Future"

Dr Sinclair was there to promote Sweden and naturally the presentation was littered with facts and data relating to Swedish economics, lifestyle, politics and healthcare. Although relatively small in population, Sweden features highly in world rankings, for example it is ranked world number one for innovation and second for R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, which probably explains why so many hi-tech healthcare products have their origins in Sweden

Similar to the UK, Sweden has a tax funded health service that ensures free healthcare for all. Although there is some national administration, the majority of the tax collection, structure and delivery are devolved to a regional level. But perhaps the biggest difference to the UK system is that in Sweden there is a greater use of, and acceptance of, private hospitals and clinics working alongside public ones to facilitate the delivery of healthcare. Also the relationship between primary and secondary care is much closer to ensure that resources are better targeted at addressing the overall care needs.

The Swedish delegates I spoke with were rather perplexed at the apparent hostility by many in Britain to the idea of private organisations and investment into a publicly funded health service, since it works so well for them.

Indeed, perhaps Dr Sinclair should talk with our Dept of Health's public relations team?