United Kingdom

=== Healthcare ===
{{Main||Healthcare in the United Kingdom}}{{Further|Healthcare in England|Healthcare in Scotland|Healthcare in Wales|}}[[File:QEUH.jpg|thumb|right|[[NHS Scotland]]'s [[Queen Elizabeth University Hospital]] in Glasgow, the largest hospital campus in Europe]]

The modern-system of [[Universal service|universal]] [[Publicly funded health care|publicly funded]] in the United Kingdom has its origins in the creation of the [[National Health Service]] (NHS) in 1949 which still exists to this day and is the primary healthcare provider in the United Kingdom. The widespread popularity of the NHS has led to it being described as a "national religion".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gill |first=Martha |date=9 July 2023 |title=To those who claim the NHS has turned into a British religion, I say: keep the faith |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/09/nhs-british-religion-keep-faith-nhs-at-75 |access-date=16 July 2023 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 April 2020 |title=Is the NHS our new national religion? – Religion Media Centre |url=https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/news/is-the-nhs-our-new-national-religion/ |access-date=16 July 2023 |website=religionmediacentre.org.uk}}</ref> Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a [[Devolution|devolved matter]] and each country has its own system of universal publicly funded healthcare, although private healthcare is also available. Public healthcare is provided to all [[British nationality law|UK permanent residents]] and is mostly free at the point of need, being paid for from [[Taxation in the United Kingdom|general taxation]]. The [[World Health Organization]], in 2000, ranked the provision of healthcare in the United Kingdom as fifteenth best in Europe and eighteenth in the world.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/worldhealthrepor00worl |title=The world health report 2000&nbsp;– Health systems: improving performance |publisher=World Health Organization |date=2000 |isbn=978-92-4-156198-3 |editor-last=Haden |editor-first=Angela |location=Geneva |access-date=5 July 2011 |editor-last2=Campanini |editor-first2=Barbara}}; {{Cite web |last=World Health Organization |author-link=World Health Organization |title=Measuring overall health system performance for 191 countries |url=http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~wgreene/Statistics/WHO-COMP-Study-30.pdf |access-date=5 July 2011 |publisher=New York University}}</ref>

Since 1979, expenditure on healthcare has been increased significantly.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fisher |first=Peter |title=The NHS from Thatcher to Blair |url=http://www.healthp.org/node/71 |journal=NHS Consultants Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120124807/http://www.healthp.org/node/71 |archive-date=20 November 2018 |access-date=19 December 2018 |quote=The Budget&nbsp;... was even more generous to the NHS than had been expected amounting to an annual rise of 7.4 per cent above the rate of inflation for the next five years. This would take us to 9.4 per cent of GDP spent on health ie around EU average.}}</ref> The 2018 [[OECD]] data, which incorporates in health a chunk of what in the UK is classified as social care, has the UK spending £3,121 per head.<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 September 2019 |title=Swindells: They aren't 'your' patients |url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/policy-and-regulation/swindells-they-arent-your-patients/7025988.article? |access-date=19 November 2019 |publisher=Health Service Journal}}</ref> In 2017 the UK spent £2,989 per person on healthcare, around the median for members of the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 August 2019 |title=How does UK healthcare spending compare with other countries? |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcomparewithothercountries/2019-08-29 |access-date=5 October 2019 |publisher=Office of National Statistics}}</ref>

Regulatory bodies are organised on a UK-wide basis such as the [[General Medical Council]], the [[Nursing and Midwifery Council]] and non-governmental-based, such as the [[Royal College]]s. Political and operational responsibility for healthcare lies with four national [[executive (government)|executives]]; [[healthcare in England]] is the responsibility of the UK Government; [[healthcare in Northern Ireland]] is the responsibility of the [[Northern Ireland Executive]]; [[healthcare in Scotland]] is the responsibility of the [[Scottish Government]]; and [[healthcare in Wales]] is the responsibility of the [[Welsh Government]]. Each [[National Health Service]] has different policies and priorities, resulting in contrasts.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 August 2008 |title='Huge contrasts' in devolved NHS |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7586147.stm |work=BBC News}}; {{Cite news |last=Triggle |first=Nick |date=2 January 2008 |title=NHS now four different systems |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7149423.stm}}</ref>