Health service variations

NHS Confederation responds to claims of "health apartheid" in letter to Daily Telegraph.

SIR - Variations in health systems across the UK do not amount to "health apartheid". To compare differences that are a natural product of devolution to systematic racial discrimination and the oppression of human rights is misleading. Health services across the UK share the same values - to provide universal healthcare that is free at the point of use - and strive to provide the highest quality of care for patients. Different countries have developed different models in order to achieve these goals, and local trusts in England set their own priorities and provide healthcare that is appropriate to their own populations. Such difference is not tantamount to a system of racial segregation. Nor are English patients receiving worse care. We have had the greatest success in reducing waiting lists and offering patient choice, as Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have excelled in other areas.

Yours faithfully,

Dame Gill Morgan
The NHS Confederation
London SW1

Published in the Daily Telegraph on 04 Jan 2008