Public satisfaction with the NHS has dropped to its lowest ever level, according to a major new survey. And dissatisfaction with the service has doubled in the last two years as people struggle to access services and believe there are not enough staff to deliver high quality care.
While the public stands unabashedly proud of the service and what it stands for, just over a quarter (29%) said they were satisfied with how the service runs, according to the 2022 British Social Attitudes survey. This is the lowest level since the survey began in 1983 and a major drop since 2010 when 70% said they were satisfied with the NHS.
Data from the poll of 3,362 people from England, Wales and Scotland, analysed by the Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund think tanks, also show that overall dissatisfaction with the way the NHS is run increased to 51% – the highest level since the survey began. This figure has doubled in just two years, with dissatisfaction over the NHS recorded at 25% in 2020.
The top reasons for dissatisfaction were about funding, staffing and access to care – some 69% said it takes too long to get a GP or hospital appointment, 55% said that there are not enough NHS staff and 50% said the Government does not spend enough money on the NHS, according to the survey, which was conducted by the National Centre for Social Research in September and October 2022. The results of the social care polling have already been released but also paint a worrying picture, with only 14% satisfied and 57% dissatisfied with how the social care service is run.
Meanwhile, a smaller survey of 1,187 people found that satisfaction with different NHS services is at record lows. Dissatisfaction with A&E services rose to 40% – the highest ever level since the question was first asked in 1989.
Meanwhile, some 42% said they were dissatisfied with NHS dentistry. And just over a third (35%) said they were satisfied with GP services, the lowest level recorded.
But the authors said that public commitment to the principles of the NHS is “undimmed” with the majority of people agreeing that the service should be free at the point of use; available to everyone; and that it should be primarily funded through taxes. Jessica Morris, report author and fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said: “The fact we have now recorded the lowest level of satisfaction with the NHS in the 40-year history of this gold standard survey is a warning siren.
“The Prime Minister has made recovering the NHS one of his central promises going into the next general election, but these results show what an enormous task this will be. It is clear that the level of unhappiness amongst the British public over the way the NHS is running is going to take many years to recover.”
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