Comparative analysis of Brazilian and British health systems in the Primary Health Care

Abstract

Both, Unified Health System (SUS) and the National Health Service (NHS)  offer free access to the population. However, regarding the development of primary health care, differences can be noted in the coverage of these two public health systems. Therefore, the objective is to carry out a critical comparative analysis of these two services. A literature review was conducted on scientific electronic databases and web pages of the Ministry of Health and United Kingdom Department of Health. The results showed although SUS and NHS are based on the same principles, they had to make different decisions over the years to adapt to the socioeconomic, epidemiological and historical several contexts. In SUS context, regarding the management and financing of the system, occurred a progressive increase in the participation of municipalities and states while the federal public budget decreased. The NHS funding, instead, remained from national taxes, and the regional offices are responsible for the execution and contracting of the health services.