Abstract
Healthcare systems are faced with unique challenges during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This viewpoint compares the response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK and in Germany. Despite being two large European countries of comparable size with good healthcare systems and similar patterns of exposure to Covid-19, Covid-19 related deaths in the UK currently far outnumber those in Germany. This has several reasons, but two explanations stick out: 1. lower long-term investment into healthcare in the UK rendered the NHS more vulnerable to Covid-19; 2. the existence of a well-governed decentralised and partially redundant organisation of healthcare increased resilience in Germany’ s healthcare systems, enhancing the ability to adapt in response to unexpected challenges to healthcare. The response to the current pandemic also illustrates the power and the necessity to learn from each other through transparent communication of successes and mistakes.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 201-203 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | European Heart Journal |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 6 May 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2020. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.Keywords
- Germany
- investments
- organizations
- pandemics
- health care systems
- stick dosage form
- adaptability
- national health service (UK)
- covid-19
- coronovirus pandemic
- Covid-19
- Mortality
- Healthcare delivery
- Health economics
- Cardiovascular medicine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
- Health Policy