Unhappiness with the NHS has reached record highs – but the public still supports it
The British public is the unhappiest it has ever been with the NHS, but still supports it in principle, a new survey has found.
The overall satisfaction with the NHS now stands at 29% – a fall of seven percentage points and the fourth-largest drop ever recorded in a single year. In 2010, satisfaction with the NHS was 71%.
The British Social Attitudes survey has tracked public opinion consistently since 1983.
Some 51% of people are unhappy with the healthcare service, a rise of 10 percentage points in a single year, and the highest levels of dissatisfaction since the survey began.
The 40th annual survey took place in September and October last year and asked 3,362 people from England, Wales and Scotland their opinions on health and social care.
The findings paint a worrying picture of how people perceive the NHS.
Over two-thirds of respondents (69%) chose long waiting times for GP and hospital appointments as one of the top reasons for dissatisfaction.
Accident and emergency departments have seen a sharp increase in the percentage of dissatisfied respondents, with a record 40% saying they are unhappy, according to analysis by the Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund.
General practice (GPs), dentistry and inpatient hospital services were among the other areas reaching record levels of dissatisfaction, with the findings consistent across all ages, income groups, genders and political persuasions.
Of those who were satisfied with the NHS, the top reason was because NHS care is free at the point of use (74%), followed by the quality of NHS care (55%) and that it has a good range of services and treatments available (49%).
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the survey results should be a “red flag to the government”.
The results “should not be seen as a judgement of 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 for its local communities”.
“With there being around 124,000 reported vacancies across the NHS in England and a maintenance backlog stretching over £10bn this is hardly surprising,” he added.
Almost 80% of NHS staff consider quitting
Unhappiness within the NHS is not restricted to members of the public, with a separate survey finding 75.5% of workers are considering leaving the service altogether.
The survey of 2,500 NHS employees by Organise found more than half are taking days off due to stress, anxiety or burnout.
The majority also said patients are experiencing medication errors, delays in procedures and compromised quality of care as a result.
It comes as thousands of NHS staff are striking with demands for better pay and improved working conditions.
Anabela De Barros, a recovery nurse working in London, told Sky News the pandemic left many NHS staff deeply traumatised.
“I have never seen so many dead patients in my life,” she said, speaking about her work during COVID.
“And it was nice that everyone was clapping for us. But I know nurses that are now going to food banks, so it’s not enough.”
Striking NHS junior doctors on the picket line
Ms De Barros has just voted to reject the latest pay deal offered to nurses.
“We’ve had Brexit, COVID and now the war in Ukraine has made the cost of living so high. We are just tired. We are exhausted. And it doesn’t seem like it is going to get better any time soon.”
Nat Whalley, CEO and co-founder of Organise – a worker-led network for fixing employment – called it a “ticking time bomb at the heart of our healthcare system”.
“We don’t need empty promises; we need tangible investments in the NHS that allow workers to thrive in their roles, without suffering from stress, anxiety, and burnout,” said Ms Whalley.
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Why are staff quitting the NHS?
Despite being unhappy, Brits still support the NHS
Despite the high levels of dissatisfaction with how services are operating, the public continues to show strong support for the principles underpinning the NHS.
Nine in 10 people backed the idea that the NHS should be free of charge when people need it.
But more than eight in 10 believe there is a major or severe funding problem for the service.
While taxation remains the favoured source of funding, more people believe the service should live within its budget.
Jessica Morris, report author and fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said: “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.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government was “hugely grateful” to NHS and social care staff for their working during the pandemic and dealing with the subsequent backlog.
“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,” they added.
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “The NHS is taking significant steps to further improve patient experience, including our recently-launched blueprint to recover urgent and emergency care alongside continuing to slash the long waits for elective treatment which inevitably built up during the pandemic, and we are working on new plans to boost primary care for patients as well as publishing a long-term workforce strategy shortly.”
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They also highlighted the government’s £14.1bn investment in health and social care over the next two years.
Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “Support for the values that the NHS was built upon are unshakable. It will fall to the next Labour government to reform and rebuild the NHS, so it once again delivers quality care for patients, free at the point of use.”
Eight men have been arrested by the Metropolitan Police in two unconnected but “significant” terrorism investigations.
In one operation on Saturday, counter-terror officers arrested five men – four of whom are Iranian nationals – as they swooped in on various locations around the country. All are in police custody.
The Met said the arrests related to a “suspected plot to target a specific premises”.
In an update shortly after midnight, the force said: “Officers have been in contact with the affected site to make them aware and provide relevant advice and support, but for operational reasons, we are not able to provide further information at this time.”
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Counter-terrorism policing, supported by police and colleagues from across the country, have conducted arrests in two really significant operations, both of which have been designed to keep the public safe from threats.
“There are several hundred officers and staff working on this investigation, and we will work very hard to ensure we understand the threats to the wider public.”
He refused to say if the plot was related to Israel, but described it as “certainly significant” and said “it is unusual for us to conduct this scale of activity”.
He also asked the public to “avoid speculation and some of the things that are being posted online”.
MI5 director general Ken McCallum said in October that the intelligence agency had responded to 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots since 2022. He warned of the risk of an “increase or broadening of Iranian state aggression in the UK”.
Read more: Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran
Children ‘petrified’ by armed police
Rochdale resident Kyle Warren, who witnessed one of the arrests at a neighbouring house, said his children had been playing in the garden when they came running into the house, saying a man in a mask had told them to go inside.
“Obviously, I was a bit worried,” Mr Warren told Sky News’ Lisa Dowd, and so he went into the garden to investigate.
“As we’ve come out, we just heard a massive bang, seen loads of police everywhere with guns, shouting at us to get inside the house.”
Kyle Warren said his children were ‘petrified’
From upstairs in his house, he then heard “loads of shouting in the house” and saw a man being pulled out of the back of the house, “dragged down the side entry and thrown into all the bushes and then handcuffed”.
There were about 20 to 30 officers with guns, he believes.
“It’s just shocking, really. You don’t expect it on your doorstep.”
His daughters were “petrified… I don’t think they’ve ever seen a gun, so to see 20 masked men with guns running round was quite scary for them”.
Mr Warren, who only moved into his house a year ago, said he had “never really seen anyone going in or out” of the house and actually thought it was empty.
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
Arrests and searches around the country
The Met added officers were carrying out searches at a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas in connection with the investigation.
It said those detained were:
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Swindon area
• A 46-year-old man arrested in west London
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Stockport area
• A 40-year-old man arrested in the Rochdale area
• A man whose age was not confirmed arrested in the Manchester area.
A 29-year-old man was arrested in the Stockport area
Terror arrests in separate investigation
Police also arrested three further Iranian nationals in London on Saturday as part of another, unrelated counter-terror investigation.
The suspects were detained under section 27 of the National Security Act 2023, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “These were two major operations that reflect some of the biggest counter state threat and counter terrorism operations that we have seen in recent years.
“This reflects the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security that we continue to face.”
Earlier, she thanked police and security services in a statement, and called the incidents “serious events that demonstrate the ongoing requirement to adapt our response to national security threats”.
Last year, the government placed the whole of the Iranian state – including its intelligence services – on the enhanced tier of the new foreign influence registration scheme.
It means anyone asked by Iran to carry out actions for the state must declare it, or face prison time.
UK
Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran, with ongoing chaos in its own backyard
These are two separate and unrelated investigations by counter-terror officers.
But the common thread is nationality – seven out of the eight people arrested are Iranian.
And that comes in the context of increased warnings from government and the security services about Iranian activity on British soil.
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Counter terror officers raid property
Last year, the director general of MI5, Ken McCallum, said his organisation and police had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents since January 2022.
He linked that increase to the ongoing situation in Iran’s own backyard.
“As events unfold in the Middle East, we will give our fullest attention to the risk of an increase in – or a broadening of – Iranian state aggression in the UK,” he said.
The implication is that even as Iran grapples with a rapidly changing situation in its own region, having seen its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, decimated and itself coming under Israeli attack, it may seek avenues further abroad.
The government reiterated this warning only a few weeks ago, with security minister Dan Jarvis addressing parliament.
“The threat from Iran sits in a wider context of the growing, diversifying and evolving threat that the UK faces from malign activity by a number of states,” Jarvis said.
“The threat from states has become increasingly interconnected in nature, blurring the lines between: domestic and international; online and offline; and states and their proxies.
“Turning specifically to Iran, the regime has become increasingly emboldened, asserting itself more aggressively to advance their objectives and undermine ours.”
Read more:
Anybody working for Iran in UK must register or face jail, government announces
As part of that address, Jarvis highlighted the National Security Act 2023, which “criminalises assisting a foreign intelligence service”, among other things.
So it was notable that this was the act used in one of this weekend’s investigations.
The suspects were detained under section 27 of the same act, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.
Those powers are apparently being put to use.
UK
Pictured: Boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire – 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Tributes have been paid to 14-year-old Layton Carr who died in a fire at an industrial estate.
Eleven boys and three girls, aged between 11 and 14 years, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.
Police were alerted to a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area
Firefighters raced to Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm, putting out the blaze a short time later.
Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time.
In a statement, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.
Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.
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Teenager dies in industrial estate fire
A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.
Organiser Stephanie Simpson said: “The last thing Georgia needs to stress trying to pay for a funeral for her Boy Any donations will help thank you.”
One tribute in a Facebook post read: “Can’t believe I’m writing this my nephew RIP Layton 💔 forever 14 you’ll be a massive miss, thinking of my sister and 2 beautiful nieces right now.”
Another added: “My boy ❤️ my baby cousin, my Layton. Nothing will ever come close to the pain I feel right now. Forever 14. I’ll miss you sausage.”
A third said: “Rest in peace big lad such a beautiful soul taken far to soon my thoughts are with you Gee stay strong girl hear for u always.”
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Eight arrests in connection with two terrorism operations
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Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”
She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”.
They are working to establish “the full circumstances surrounding the incident” and officers will be in the area to “offer reassurance to the public”, she added.
A cordon remains in place at the site while police carry out enquiries.
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