NHS satisfaction at lowest ebb amid long waits and lack of GPS
SATISFACTION with the NHS has hit its lowest level since records began.
Fewer than one in four people said they were satisfied with the way the NHS runs for the first time in the 41-year history of the British Social Attitudes survey. Almost three quarters of those who were unhappy said “taking too long to get a GP or hospital appointment” was their main grievance.
Of the more than 3,000 people questioned in the 2023 survey, 24 per cent were satisfied with the health service, a record 52 per cent were dissatisfied, and the remainder were indifferent.
Ratings have more than halved since the pandemic, with 54 per cent of patients satisfied with the health service in 2020.
Experts said the “depressing” figures left the NHS in “uncharted territory”, with polling suggesting the health service was “the number one issue” for people ahead of the general election.
Dan Wellings, a senior fellow at health charity the King’s Fund, said: “These results are depressing but sadly not surprising. The NHS has seen no respite from the issues that have led to an unprecedented downward spiral in public satisfaction in recent years. With the health service increasingly unable to meet the expectations and needs of those who rely on it, public satisfaction with the NHS is now in uncharted territory.”
He added: “The NHS is the number one issue that people are flagging for the election, but it is a crowded field.”
Dennis Reed, the director of Silver Voices, an over-60s campaign group, said: “The NHS has plunged from being the pride of Britain to an organisation that people moan about nearly as much as the weather.”
The British Social Attitudes research, which began in 1983, is conducted by the King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust, and surveyed 3,374 people in England, Wales and Scotland.
The results come as satisfaction levels in both GP and dental services also hit a record low, standing at 34 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
While more than seven in 10 people said GP and hospital waits were the main issue, the other top concerns included a lack of staff, a lack of funding and the NHS wasting money. Last year, a record number of people waited at least four weeks for a GP appointment, and the NHS dental crisis culminated in hundreds of patients queuing outside a new practice in Bristol last month to secure an appointment.
For the first time this century, the survey asked the public whether they would be willing to pay more tax to fund the NHS, with half of respondents agreeing that they would. Wealthier respondents and Labour voters were both more likely to agree.
It comes as a report by MPS on the public accounts committee published today finds that NHS Supply Chain (NHSSC), a body set up to save the health service money by utilising its national buying power, was “failing” to convince hospitals to use it. Almost half of the £8billion spent by hospitals on medical equipment and products each year is still not being bought through NHSSC.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We are fully committed to a faster, simpler and fairer NHS, free at the point of need. We are providing the NHS with record funding of nearly £165billion a year by the end of this Parliament.”