Public satisfaction with NHS at lowest level for 25 years

For the first time since 2002 more people were dissatisfied with the NHS compared with those who were satisfied
Public satisfaction with the NHS has dropped to its lowest level for 25 years
PA Archive
Elly Blake30 March 2022

Public satisfaction with the NHS has dropped to its lowest level for 25 years, according to a survey.

Just 36 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the way the health service was performing in 2021, the lowest since 1997.

Around 41 per cent indicated they were “very” or “quite” dissatisfied.

The 2021 British Social Attitudes survey found that to be a drop from 53 per cent the year before- the largest fall in a single year.

Satisfaction levels have only once been lower since the poll was creasted in 1983 by the National Centre for Social Research.

The survey found the public were dissatisfied with the time it takes to get a GP appointment or hospital care as well as staffing shortages. There were also concerns the NHS was not being funded properly by the Government.

Just 38 per cent said they were satisfied with GP services and only a third (33 per cent) were satisfied with NHS dentistry – both of these are the lowest findings since the survey began.

Around half (49 per cent) said they were satisfied with A&E services and 41-49 per cent expressed satisfaction with other hospital services, according to the poll of 3,112 people.

The fall in satisfaction was widespread across all age groups and income groups, with political party support having no bearing.

The King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust thinktanks, which published the findings, said they were unprecedented and represented “the most extraordinary set of results we have seen”.

Dan Wellings, senior fellow at the King’s Fund, said the “story behind the frustration” lay with hospital waiting times that were exacerbated by the pandemic, stretching the NHS to its limit.

“We almost have six million people (on the waiting list in England) – now that’s four in 10 of the population who are on the waiting list or have a family member who is, and that’s the story behind the frustration – people deteriorating and in pain, people visiting their GP because they can’t get into hospital because of the waiting lists,” Mr Welling said.

“People are often struggling to get the care they need and identified access to general practice, waiting times for hospital care and staff shortages as areas that need to improve.

“These issues have been exacerbated by the extraordinary events of the past two years but have been many years in the making following a decade-long funding squeeze and a workforce crisis that has been left unaddressed for far too long.”

Professor Stephen Powis
PA Wire

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, said NHS staff had had one of the most challenging years in its 73-year history, working “flat out” in 2021 to treat 300,000 patients in hospital with Covid-19, while delivering routine care for millions of people and the highly successful vaccination programme.

“While the pandemic inevitably had an impact on routine care, the NHS has set out a blueprint to address the Covid-19 backlogs as well as setting out plans to improve GP access and so, anyone who has health concerns should continue to come forward for the care they need.”

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