But Hutton is not talking about the way other countries fund their health service. France enjoys a level of spending far beyond ours. Last year, 9.9 per cent of its gross domestic product went on healthcare, compared with 7.7 per cent in the UK. The money has given them nearly twice the number of beds and a larger number of doctors and other staff.
The French system was rated the best in the world by the World Health Organisation when it looked at access to healthcare, efficiency and effectiveness. But it is not the highest spender; that dubious honour goes to America, which puts an astonishing 14 per cent of its GDP into healthcare but still leaves a large section of its population without proper medical cover.
Observer May 25{it might just be that who gets the money matters more than how much gets spent.
McHealthcare...}
