Satisfaction with the NHS plummets to lowest
level in 40 years
Leader of BMA says findings are ‘damning indictment’
of the Tories’ handling of the health service
Denis
Campbell
Wed 29 Mar
2023 06.00 BST
Satisfaction
with the NHS has plummeted to a record low of just 29% amid intense public
frustration with long waits for care, understaffing and lack of government
funding.
The
striking picture of deep and growing disenchantment with the health service is
mirrored by a recent spike in dissatisfaction with the NHS overall to 51% –
double what it was in just 2020 – as well as a range of key services including
GP care (42%), dentistry (42%) and A&E (40%).
Opposition
parties and the leader of Britain’s doctors claimed the findings, from a
long-established annual survey of attitudes towards the NHS, were a “damning
indictment” of the Conservatives’ handling of the service since they became the
government in 2010.
The
results, from the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), show
satisfaction with the NHS has collapsed from the record high 70% seen in 2010,
the year Labour lost power, to 29% last year. That is the lowest level of
satisfaction seen in the 40 years the research into public perceptions of the
NHS has been undertaken.
Dissatisfaction
with the service has more than doubled in just two years, from 25% in 2020 to
51% in 2022, a period marked by Covid-19’s arrival, the NHS suffering a
worsening shortage of staff and growing numbers of patients – now 9 million
across the UK – facing long waits for treatment.
“The NHS
was one of the most respected health services in the world, but these damning
findings show how years of underfunding and government neglect have reduced it
to a mere shadow of what it could, and should, be,” said Prof Philip Banfield,
the leader of the British Medical Association.
Satisfaction
with the NHS has collapsed since 2020, according to NatCen’s findings, which
were based on a survey of 3,362 people in England, Scotland and Wales. The 29%
satisfaction seen last year is down seven percentage points on the 36% seen in
2021 and 24 points lower than the 53% recorded in 2020.
Worryingly
for NHS leaders, that sharp fall in satisfaction was seen across all ages,
income groups, sexes and supporters of the different political parties,
according to an analysis of NatCen’s findings by experts at the Nuffield Trust
and King’s Fund health thinktanks.
Asked why
they were dissatisfied, participants identified the length of time it takes to
get a GP or hospital appointment (69%) as their main reason, followed by “not
enough NHS staff” (55%) and also that “the government doesn’t spend enough
money on the NHS” (50%).
A separate
panel of 1,187 of the 3,362 respondents who were quizzed about specific types
of NHS provision found that just 27% are satisfied with NHS dentistry, 30% with
A&E services, 35% with GP care and hospital inpatient services and 45% with
outpatient care. All were the lowest levels seen since NatCen began probing
public attitudes to the NHS in 1983.
“These sad
but significant findings show the public’s frustration with the status quo
around health and social care and should act as a red flag to the government”,
said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation.
But, he
added: “The fact that public satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest level
in 40 years should not be seen as a judgment on the efforts of frontline staff
to recover services in the wake of the pandemic but rather a sign that the NHS
is not being given what it needs to fully deliver.”
The public
seem to recognise that “the NHS has had its hands tied”, Taylor added.
However,
more positively for the NHS, the public still support the founding principles
of the service, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary on 5 July. Large
numbers said they were satisfied with the NHS because care is free at the point
of use (74%), quality of care is good (55%) and it offers a good range of
services and treatments (49%).
Dan
Wellings, a senior fellow at the King’s Fund and co-author of the thinktank’s
analysis, said: “The public do not want a different model of healthcare; they
just want the current model to work.”
Meanwhile,
in a significant move in the ongoing NHS pay dispute, Jeremy Hunt has conceded
the Treasury will have to find extra money to fund the pay offer to health
staff, though the Department of Health and Social Care will also be forced to
make savings.
Health
unions are now consulting their members on the offer, which includes a one-off
bonus of up to 8.2% for this year and a pay rise of 5% from April, plus more
for the lowest-paid.
With
existing budget plans only allowing for a 3.5% rise, ministers had previously
declined to say how the offer would be funded, stoking fears of fresh cuts to
under-pressure services.
In a
statement on Tuesday, the health secretary Steve Barclay said: “I’m working
with the Treasury to ensure my department has the money it needs to fully fund
this pay offer, which will include additional funding and reprioritising
existing budgets.”
Wes Streeting,
the shadow health secretary, said: “After 13 years of Conservative
mismanagement, the public has lost faith that the NHS will be there for them
when they need it. People are just praying they don’t have to dial 999 or go to
A&E.”
The
Department of Health and Social Care did not directly respond to NatCen’s
findings.
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