Overview

Since 2005, the Health Consumer Powerhouse has produced its annual Euro Health Consumer Index, [1] ranking European health systems according to their performance [2] on a host of indicators around (i) patient rights and information, (ii) accessibility, (iii) outcomes, (iv) range and reach of services, (v) prevention and (vi) pharmaceuticals. In its most recent iteration, the United Kingdom ranked only 14th of 35 countries studied. This is in stark contrast to the assessment by the Commonwealth Fund just a year before, in which the UK was rated as the best performing health system among a set of high-income countries in 2014.