The line graphs show the number of beds available for 1000 patients and the proportion of patients’ waiting days for elective surgery in five different countries from 2010 to 2018.
Overall, the quantity of hospital beds per 1000 people decreased in most countries, except for Sweden and Mexico. In addition, the figure of patients who had to wait for elective surgery up to 30 days and more than 30 days witnessed opposite patterns.
Considering hospital beds per 1000 people, Canada took the leading position in this category, which was 5 beds, whereas Mexico was the nation with the fewest beds per 1000 patients, which was 2 beds. 8 years later, the number of hospital beds per 1000 people in Canada slightly declined to just more than 4 beds, taking the second-lead position. Meanwhile, the figure of Mexico edged up from under 4 to 4.5 beds, being the highest figure in the last year. Mexico’s figure, despite experiencing an increase, was still the lowest.
In terms of waiting days for surgery, there were opposite patterns seen in the figures of under and more than 30 days. If the proportion of people having to wait up to a month in Sweden surged up from nearly 70% to more than 80% between 2010 and 2018, the figure of people having to wait more than a month witnessed a decrease (above 30% to under 20%), both having the gap of 20%. By contrast, there was a decline from more than 60% to 40% in the percentage of people waiting fewer than 30 days in the UK, making it the lowest one, while the figure saw the opposite trend, when it comes to more than 30 days waiting, which leads it to the first place. Australia, Mexico and Canada experienced the same patterns as aforementioned countries.