Just 10% of Britons think ministers have the right policies on the NHS, though public support for the service’s founding principles remains strong, according to new polling.
The proportion of voters across the UK who believe that ministers are tackling the NHS’s many problems in the right way is lowest in England, at 8% – a record low.
It is higher in both Scotland (28%) and Wales (19%). However, across the UK as a whole just one in 10 people thinks the government is taking the right approach to the NHS.
The notable lack of public confidence in ministers’ handling of the health service emerged in a survey that pollsters Ipsos undertook for the Health Foundation thinktank.
“That public confidence in the government’s handling of the NHS has reached a new low should ring alarm bells in No 10,” said Tim Gardner, a senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation.
In a series of gloomy conclusions that reveal dwindling confidence in and growing public concern about the NHS, Ipsos also found that:
Only 33% think the NHS is providing a good service, a lot fewer than the 43% who said it was when the survey was last done in May 2022.
62% fear that the standard of NHS care will get worse over the next year – a big jump from the 39% who said that last year.
74% expect the already serious pressure placed on NHS staff will intensify.
However, the research also shows that 90% think the NHS should remain free at the point of delivery, 89% back it being a comprehensive service that is available to everyone and 84% believe it should be mainly funded through taxation.
Some right-of-centre thinktanks and commentators, as well as the former health secretary Sajid Javid, have recently called for a rethink of how the NHS is funded and organised. However, Ipsos found that 82% of voters think the NHS needs more money in order to function better. That view is shared across all age groups, the four home nations and among both Labour (94%) and Conservative (63%) voters.
“There is no evidence voters want a radical change to the NHS model; they just want the current one to work better,” said Gardner.
NHS bosses and experts are worried that satisfaction with the NHS is falling, especially as a result of long waiting times to see a GP, get an ambulance, receive A&E care or mental health treatment or undergo an operation.
Research published last year by the King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust thinktanks found that public satisfaction with the health service had fallen to its lowest level since 1997.
Their finding of significant dissatisfaction with the time taken to get an appointment with a GP is borne out by Ipsos’s new research, which found that 44% think it takes to long to see a family doctor and 43% believe that it is too hard to book an appointment.
“This polling shows the NHS is being let down by government inaction, which is contributing to reduced public confidence, while support for the founding principles of the NHS remains strong,” said Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents care providers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are committed to ensuring that the NHS is here for people to give them the healthcare they need, when they need it. That’s why we’re building a sustainable NHS with patients at its centre – backed by up to £14.1bn for health and social care over the next two years, on top of record funding.
“Our urgent and emergency care recovery plan seeks to deliver the prime minister’s priority to cut waiting lists, whilst reducing pressure on hospitals by scaling up community teams, expanding virtual wards, and getting 800 new ambulances on the road – on top of £750m to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds this winter.”
