Two healthcare leaders from United Kingdom call Qatar a model for healthcare at WISH

14 November 2024. Doha, Qatar — Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), has praised Qatar, calling it a model for the UK. He recently led an investigation into the performance of the NHS in England, concluding that it was in critical condition, even though its vital signs were strong.

Lord Darzi said: “Ten years ago, I think it is fair to say that I felt there was much that Qatar could learn from the NHS. Ten years on, today, it is apparent that there is far more the NHS can learn from Qatar and the success of its reforms.”

“Over recent years Qatar has expanded its network of primary healthcare centres, implemented the WHO’s “Healthy Cities” concept nationwide and rolled out electronic health records to streamline patient information. It reaped the benefits of this approach during the Covid-19 pandemic by mounting a response that resulted in one of the lowest mortality rates globally.”

“Qatar’s success in managing Covid is the subject of one of the WISH policy reports. I commend it to you as a model of how to deal with the next pandemic – in particular, its commitment to science-based decision making, which is vital for all countries everywhere.”

Andrew Gwynne, UK Minister for Public Health and Prevention, was in attendance at the opening summit and responded to Lord Darzi’s comments. Gwynne said:

“We asked Lord Darzi to review the UK National Health Service (NHS), and he’s offered us the diagnosis. We’re now in the process of working out the prescription.

“I think Lord Darzi really reinforced the idea of the lost decade that we had under the previous administration. The NHS was by no means perfect by the time the Labour government left office in 2010 but we had, through a programme of significant investment and reform, created an NHS that was working for most people, that was once more the envy of the world, and the world was looking to the UK, which is what Lord Darzi alluded to. We had the highest patient satisfaction in the history of the NHS, the lowest waiting times, the lowest waiting lists, and some of the best patient outcomes that we’d ever had at that stage.

“And then through a series of policy decisions by the coalition government that took the eye off the reform agenda, we had this huge reorganization that just set the NHS back years. Then the future Conservative administration spent all their time and effort trying to fix what they had broken, and then the pandemic came, and it’s just exacerbated the problems, so we inherit an NHS that’s broken, but not beaten.

“I think there’s a lot that the UK can learn from Qatar, particularly on the smart use of data and how they’re using it to drive population health. And on things like genetics and life sciences. We should be working in partnership. The United Kingdom has a lot to offer in those areas. And therefore, one of the reasons that I’m here is because the Prime Minister has made it very clear, as has the health secretary, that Britain is back on the world stage.

“We believe in both multilateralism and bilateral strong bilateral relationships, and we want to signal to the world that when it comes to global health challenges, we work in partnership, and also signal to Qatar, the hosts, that they matter to the United Kingdom. We’ve got the state visit coming up at the start of December, and there’s a lot more collaboration and cooperation we can do in the field of health.”
International leaders in health are discussing some of the world’s most pressing health issues at the WISH’s seventh biennial global conference in Qatar.

This year, WISH was opened in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation and founder of WISH. The opening ceremony, held at Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, included speeches from Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Qatar’s former Minister of Public Health; Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of WISH; and Christos Christou, President of Médecins Sans Frontières.

The theme of WISH 2024 is ‘Humanizing Health: Conflict, Equity and Resilience’. It aims to highlight the need for innovation in health to support everyone, leaving nobody behind and building resilience, especially among vulnerable societies and in areas of armed conflict.

Ahead of the summit, WISH entered into a strategic partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), collaborating on the development of a series of evidence-based reports and policy papers, as well as working with the United Nations’ health agency to develop a post-summit implementation strategy.
The summit features more than 200 experts in health speaking about evidence-based ideas and practices in healthcare innovation to address the world’s most urgent global health challenges.