National health service in great britain

Task 1 Learn the words and word combinations:

National Health Service Державна служба охорони

здоровя

interrelation взаємовідносини

obligation обовязок, зобовязання

make arrangement домовлятися

be available бути доступним

be crowded бути переповненим

infirmary лікарня, лазарет

nursing home платний інтернат для

літніх людей

Department of Health and Міністерство охорони

Social Security здоровя та соціального

захисту

regional Hospital Board обласна лікарняна рада

Task 2 Match a medical term with a proper definition:

1 hospital a) injection with a germ product to produce

immunity and protect against disease

2 infirmary b) born before maturity

3 sanatorium c) infectious disease caused by tubercle

bacilli

4 nursing home d) a place for the care of the sick

5 infertility e) inability to have children

6 tuberculosis f) a private small hospital for the patients

and aged people

7 vaccination g) a place for preserving health or carrying

for a long term illness

8 premature h) a place for the care of the sick

Task 3 Read and learn the following word combinations. Translate the sentences with them into Ukrainian:

1 to pass an act through the Parliament

The National Health Service Act was passed through the Parliament in 1946.

2 to receive the Royal Assent

The National Health Service Act received The Royal Assent in 1948.

Task 4 Read and translate the following word families. Identify the word-forming suffixes:

To administer, administration, administrative; to provide, provision, provisional; to satisfy, satisfaction, satisfactory; to specialize, specialization, specialist, speciality; to consult, consultation, consultant.

Task 5 Read the text:

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE IN GREAT BRITAIN

The main organ of Health Service in Great Britain is the National Health Service. The National Health Service Act was passed through parliament in 1946 and in 1948 this act received the Royal Assent and was brought into operation. The NHS consists of three parts: the Local Health Authorities, the General Practitioners and Hospitals or Specialist Services.

The Local Health Authorities has an obligation to make arrangements with the General Practitioners for the vaccination of those who live within its area. The Hospitals and Specialist Services have definite interrelations, too. The role of the family doctor is very important in the Health Service. Not all patients need highly specialized attention and the GP does invaluable work by filtering off 90 per cent of the total medical work.

Most medical treatment in Great Britain is free, but charges are made for drugs, spectacles and dental care. Free emergency medical treatment is given to any visitor from abroad who becomes ill while staying in the country. But those who come to England specially for treatment must pay for it.

The National Health Service provides free medical treatment both in hospital and outside. People may use the NHS and they may go to doctors as private patients. Many people who have enough money prefer to be private patients because they think that they can in that way establish more personal relations with the doctor or because they do not want to be put in a large room with other patients. The patient in England can choose between the NHS and private treatment at any time. Moreover he can take one part with the service, the other privately. If a patient is dissatisfied with his NHS, family doctor or dentist, he may change to another one. In fact, 97% of the population use the NHS.

This freedom of choice applies to doctors and dentists, too. All doctors may take part in the Family Doctor System and most of them do so. This service is free to everyone. They can choose whether they want to join the NHS or not and if they can have NHS and private patients. Physicians may have private practice receiving the pay directly from the patients for their medical advice. NHS doctors are paid from the Government, the pay depending on the umber of the patients they have served every month.

The hospital service includes general and special hospitals, tuberculosis sanatoria, infectious disease units, and all forms of specialized treatment together with the provision of most surgical and medical needs. Besides the hospitals there are infirmatories and nursing homes. An infirmatory is a room in an institution used for sick people. A nursing home is usually a private small hospital for the patients and aged people. In fact, half of the hospitals are over 100 years old. They were built in the nineteenth century, they are small with about 200 beds. Such hospitals are uneconomic and cannot provide a full range of services, which require a district hospital of 800 beds or more. Now they have more than 150 health centers in the UK. Health centers provide opportunities for hospital specialists and GPs. Health centres contain all the special diagnostic and therapeutic services which family doctors need, such as electrocardiography, X-ray, physiotherapy, etc. Family doctors have access to hospital resources and can be brought into close relationship with hospital doctors. Health centres are the bases of primary care.

There are centres, which provide consultant services in general medicine and surgery, ear-nose-throat diseases, obstetrics and gynaecology, ophthalmology, psychiatry and orthopedics. All consultations in the centres are by appointment only. The patient is given a definite time at which to attend. Each doctor decides for himself how many patients he can examine for an hour. It must be born in mind that the patient is the most important person in the health centre and all the energies of the medical personnel are directed to helping him as much as possible.

Some deep problems with British health still persist. For example, death rates among poor people are more than twice as high as among more affluent groups. The poorest can expect to die eight years sooner than the richest. A child from the low-income group is twice as likely as a child from the top-income group to die before the age of fifteen. Another area in which little progress has been made is preventive medicine.

But things are not quite bad. British expenditures on health nearly doubled in real terms over the past two decades. And despite these problems, Britain continues to spend significantly less on health than most other rich countries and the delivery oh health care in the UK is organized better than in many other countries.

Task 6 Now, read the text carefully, looking up any new items in a dictionary or your vocabulary. Then say whether the following statements are true or false:

1 The NHS is the main organ of Health Service in the UK.

2 The three parts of the NHS are:

a) the Local Health Authorities;

b) Hospitals;

c) Health centres.

3 The patient in Great Britain cannot change his family doctor to another one.

4 All hospitals in the UK are new, comfortable and economic.

5 Health centres provide opportunities for hospital specialists and GPs.

6 Family doctors have no access to hospital resources.

7 Much progress in preventive medicine has been done in the UK.

8 Britain spends less on health than other rich countries.

Task 7 Complete the following sentences:

1 The main organ of health Service is …

2 The role of the family doctor is …

3 The freedom of choice applies to …

4 English hospitals are uneconomic and cannot …

5 Health centres contain all the special …

6 There are centres which provide consultant services in …

7 British expenditures on health …

Task 8 Answer the following questions:

1 When was the NHS brought into operation?

2 What parts does the National Health Service consist of?

3 Are there any interrelations between these parts?

4 Are there private patients in Great Britain?

5 Why do many people who have enough money still prefer to be private patients?

6 What is the role of the family doctor in the NHS system?

7 What is the role of health centres in the health service system in Great Britain?

Task 9 Approve the following statements. Use the following expressions in your speech:

It must be born in mind;

In fact, …

As a matter of fact, …

It should be noted that …

1 The general practitioner services consist of the family doctor service, the dental service, the pharmaceutical service and the ophthalmic service.

2 Services provided by the local health authorities include domiciliary midwifery, health visiting, home nursing, vaccination and immunization and the prevention, care and after-care of illness.

3 Health centres are institutions where various medical services both preventive and curative are brought together.

4 The patient is the most important person in the health centre and all the doctors’ energies should be directed to help the patient as much as possible.

Task 10 Which of the following facts are not mentioned in the text?

Facts	yes	no
1 The structure of the National Health Service. 2 The structure of the General Practitioner Services. 3 Services provided by the Local Health Authorities. 4 The inner connections between the parts of National Health Service. 5 The types of hospitals. 6 The quality of hospital service. 7 Insufficient numbers of doctors in the state hospitals. 8 Services provided by Health centres. 9 The system of insurance in the UK. 10 Problems of Health Care system in the UK. 11 The plans of NHS for the future.

Task 11 (A) Arrange the following expressions according to the contents (keep to a logical consistency):

1 Types of hospitals in the UK.

2 The interrelations between the three parts of the NHS.

3 Freedom of choice applied to doctors and dentists.

4 The NHS and its structure.

5 Problems of British health care system.

6 Freedom of choice of medical treatment.

7 Health centres in the UK.

(B) Summarize the text using the headlines organized by you in a logical consistency.

Task 12 Point out the modal construction to be + infinitive. Translate into Ukrainian:

1 This patient is to be transferred to the operating room.

2 Health service of this type is to be covered by the state.

3 A federal program is to provide free medical care for the elderly and disabled.

4 Dependent children, the poor and aged are to be cared by Medicaid program.

5 The conference is to be held in the operative room.

Task 13 Translate the sentences with the modal construction have + infinitive:

1 The doctor has to develop new approaches in the treatment of the poor and aged.

2 In cases in which surgical treatment had to be performed a thorough examination was necessary.

3 The patient has to be nourished orally to avoid further aggravation of his condition.

4 Because of repeated heart attacks the patient had to be admitted to the hospital.

5 A radical operation had to be performed as the patient’s condition was deteriorating.

Task 14 Discuss the following items:

A. Compare the cost of medical services in the USA and the UK. In what country patient’s expenditures on health are higher? Explain your reasons.

B. Analyze:

a) Freedom of choice of any kind of treatment, suitable to the English patient.

b) Freedom of choice, applied to doctors and dentists.

C. Prove that serious problems in the UK exist among people of different socio-economic background. Compare them with the similar problems in the USA.