Australia and New Zealand have some of the longest healthcare waiting times in the OECD, second and fifth from the bottom, respectively, a new study has found.

On a scale of 0 being best and 10 worst, New Zealand was given a normalised wait time score of 5.47 and Australia 6.8 – only Norway’s score of 8.13 was worse! Denmark came out on top at 0.27, according to the 2022 study by NiceRx, a US-based prescription service provider.

On average, 17% of New Zealand patients were waiting one day or more to hear back from a doctor, while 48% waited over a month for a specialist appointment. The median wait time for cataract surgery was 82 days. In Australia, those numbers were 14% and 39%, respectively, and the wait time for cataract surgery was 84 days. Other surgeries in Australia, such as hip and knee replacements, had longer wait times compared to New Zealand, contributing to Australia’s overall poorer score.

Looking at total health expenditure (voluntary plus compulsory/government spend) per capita, the US topped the list (NZ$19,377), followed by Germany ($11,618) and Switzerland ($11,297), while Australia sat 11th ($8,854) and New Zealand 19th (NZ$7,029). Hong Kong achieved the highest average life expectancy (85.29 years), followed by Japan (85.03 years) and Switzerland (84.25 years). Australia’s life expectancy is seventh in the OECD (83.94 years), while New Zealand is 17th on the list at 82.80 years. Top expenditure countries US and Germany ranked 32nd and 25th in life expectancy, respectively. Although it topped the list for shortest wait times, Denmark ranked 29th in life expectancy (81.4 years), while its healthcare expenditure per capita put it in sixth place ($10,044).

Overall, NiceRx noted countries which experienced high caseloads of Covid-19 infections tended to have higher healthcare expenditures and longer waitlists compared to other countries.

For the full report, see www.nicerx.com/best-healthcare-countries