Interesting study published in the British Medical Journal - US patients see specialists sooner. Our patients are twice as likely to receive a referral.

Researchers from the Health Services Research and Development Center, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore looked at hundreds of thousands of patients both sides of the Atlantic visiting their GP or "primary care physician" - the US equivalent, during 1996 or 1997.

They were matched up for severity of disease symptoms so that research teams could check what happened to similar patients in the US and UK.

In the US, between 30% and 36.8% of patients were referred on to a specialist compared to 13.9% of the UK patients.

...

"Just 1% of US patients wait four months or longer for elective surgery compared with 33% of UK patients."

Which system delivers better care? In which system would you rather receive your care? Our system has problems, but we do not want a system that delivers less satisfactory care. Designing a better system will challenge us greatly.