The BBC News has this week reported that the long-running British Social Attitudes survey has recorded the lowest-ever level of public satisfaction with the NHS.
The survey statistics show that only 29% said they were satisfied with the NHS in 2022, with the biggest concerns being waiting times and staff shortages. This percentage is seven percentage points down in comparison to last year and a massive drop in difference compared to 2010 where there was high satisfaction of 70%.
This poll of the gold-standard measure of the public view on the NHS public health service has been running since 1983.
The A&E department saw the biggest fall in satisfaction however, ratings for other services including, GPs and dentistry to general hospital care also decreased. See below the percentage of the survey where respondents said they were “quite” or “very” satisfied in Britain:
- Hospital outpatients – 45%
- Hospital inpatients – 35%
- General practice – 35%
- Accident and emergency – 30%
- Dentistry – 27%
The overall satisfaction decrease was seen across all ages, income groups, sexes, etc. This suggests it is not a particular group of people who feel this way and that it is very collective in society.
It’s important to note that a survey of 3,300 people was administered in the autumn prior to the winter months – a time when England, Scotland, and Wales saw the worst waiting times on record and showed all three nations missed their core NHS waiting time targets.
The survey displayed that the public valued the NHS being free at the point of use and the quality of care when they were eventually seen. Eight out of ten people supported the view that the NHS should be available for everyone to use and to be funded predominately through taxes. However, nearly half (43%) said taxes should go up to provide additional funding, whereas 28% said the NHS should be within its budget.
Nuffield Trust and King’s Fund think tanks sponsor the health questions and have published the findings.
Dan Wellings, of the King’s Fund, said:
“It is easy to become desensitised to the relentless flow of bad news about struggling health services, but we cannot underestimate the significance of the unprecedented results. These stark findings should act as a wake-up call to those in power.”
It is quite clear that in order to change the public perception and attitude toward the NHS will take time given how much satisfaction has fallen.
Satisfaction ratings have decreased in social care
Other satisfaction ratings of care have shown a decrease in social care for example. Only 14% said they felt satisfied with the services of care homes, children’s care, and home help.
Louise Ansari, of the patient watchdog, Healthwatch England, has spoken about how access is the real issue at the moment which in turn is causing people to really distress over the long waits.
However, on a positive note, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said:
“Extra spending on the NHS was starting to make a difference, following the disruption to services and waiting times during the pandemic.
Cutting waiting lists is one of the prime minister’s five priorities and so far we have virtually eliminated waits of over two years for treatment and latest figures show the number of patients waiting over 18 months has reduced by 80% from the peak.
Extra testing and scanning facilities would also improve cancer detection rates.”
Comment
Patients are entitled to expect to receive acceptable standards of care and treatment and the results published indicate this is not what is happening. This will only cause problems and mistakes to occur, which could cause harm to patients and their families. It is therefore totally understandable why people have concerns about the NHS. Is clear that the NHS needs additional funding and other resources to be provided before any change in the public’s perception and attitude can be expected.
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Carolle White is a Senior Associate and Legal Executive in our Medical Negligence team, which has been ranked in tier one by the independently researched publication, The Legal 500.
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