Examining the UK Covid‐19 mortality paradox: Pandemic preparedness, healthcare expenditure, and the nursing workforce

Abstract

Aim To examine the UK pandemic preparedness in light of health expenditure, nursing workforce, and mortality rates in and relation to nursing leadership. Background The Global Health Security Index categorized the preparedness of 195 countries to face a biological threat on a variety of measures, producing an overall score. The United States of America and the United Kingdom were ranked 1st and 2nd most prepared in 2019. Method A cross‐nation comparison of the top 36 countries ranked by Global Health Security Index score using a variety of online sources, including key data about each nation's expenditure on health and the nursing workforce, and compared these with mortality data for COVID‐19. Results The extent of a country's pandemic preparedness, expenditure on healthcare and magnitude of the nursing workforce does not appear to impact mortality rates at this stage of the pandemic which is something of a paradox. Conclusion It is important that arrangements for dealing with future global pandemics involve a range of agencies and experts in the field, including nurse leaders. Implications for Nursing To achieve the best outcomes for patients, nurse leaders should be involved in policy forums at all levels of government to ensure nurses can influence health policy.

Preparedness of countries to face COVID-19 pandemic crisis: Strategic positioning and factors supporting effective strategies of prevention of pandemic threats

“…In fact, Table 1 shows that the United Kingdom is in the group of low performers to minimize the mortality in the initial phase of diffusion of the COVID-19, whereas it is in the group of high performers in Table 3 for rollout of vaccinations to prevent future epidemic outbreaks. Stribling et al (2020) examine this UK COVID-19 paradox because the country has an advanced healthcare system and a relatively high expenditure on health, and as a consequence should have had a better performance to cope with COVID-19 pandemic, minimizing mortality in society. Moreover, the Global Health Security Index that assesses preparedness of countries to face a biological threat has ranked the United Kingdom 2nd, after the United States of America, as the most prepared in 2019.…”

“…In this context, another measure is the Global Health Security Index that categorized the preparedness of countries to face a biological threat on a variety of indicators ( Cameron et al, 2019 ). The United States of America and the UK were ranked in 2019 at the first and second position in the Global Health Security Index suggesting a strong ability of these countries to face a major biological threat, such as a pandemic ( Stribling et al, 2020 ). Coccia, 2021 , Coccia, 2021a also suggests rankings of the relative performance of countries at different phases of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic considering a variety of indicators.…”

High health expenditures and low exposure of population to air pollution as critical factors that can reduce fatality rate in COVID-19 pandemic crisis: a global analysis

“…Although the study here provides main findings to better design policy responses to cope with pandemic threat, other confounding factors that influence variables under study here (e.g., institutional aspects, culture, religion, political system, investments in hospital sector, in prevention, in medical personnel, etc.) need to be considered for more comprehensive analysis and policy responses of countries (cf., Stribling et al, 2020 ). The positive side of this study is a global analysis of more than 160 countries to explore and generalize, whenever possible, proposed findings that are prima facie (i.e., accepted as correct until proved otherwise) to support appropriate policy responses of crisis management at country level.…”

A narrative inquiry of nursing experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic

“…The need for nurse leaders to be involved in policy at all levels of government to ensure they can influence health policy is recommended for dealing with future pandemics. [22]…”