OECD have recently updated their useful summary of comparative healthcare costs, with pointers to further detail if required.

It poses a bit of a puzzle by pointing out that the UK’s healthcare expenditure as a proportion of GDP is marginally higher than the OECD average, even though the number of physicians/unit of population is below the OECD average, the number of hospital beds on the same measure is significantly below the OECD average and MRI & CT scanners per million population are both less than half the OECD average. Although it’s not hard to guess the cause, no explanation is offered as to why costs are not therefore lower than the OECD average. (The number of nurses/unit of population is similar to the OECD average.)

Hat tip to Prof Mike Short.