Britons are less satisfied with NHS than at any time on record
Public satisfaction with the NHS has dropped to the lowest level on record, according to findings from a long-running poll.
Just 24% of people said they were satisfied with the health service in 2023, with poor access to GPs and long wait times for hospital treatment the main reasons for dissatisfaction.
More than 3,000 people across England, Scotland and Wales were surveyed for the British Social Attitudes poll, which is seen as a reliable barometer for how people feel about the NHS.
Satisfaction levels were down five percentage points from the year before – falling to the lowest level since records began in 1983.
From A&E to dentistry, satisfaction with every service is at or near historic lows. Results for social care were even worse, where just 13% were happy.
When asked what the most important priorities for the NHS should be, 52% said making it easier to get a GP appointment and 51% said increasing staff numbers.
Improving waiting times in A&E and for planned operations closely followed – chosen by 47% and 45% of people respectively.
Crucially however, support for the founding principles behind the NHS – free at the point of use, available to everyone and primarily funded through taxes – has remained constant.
This indicates the public do not want a change to the NHS – they just want the model they have got to work, a report analysing the poll said.
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‘Continual state of crisis’
Satisfaction with the NHS peaked 14 years ago in 2010, when 70% of people were satisfied with the health service. But since 2020, levels have dropped by 29 percentage points.
“A decade of squeezed funding and chronic workforce shortages followed by a global pandemic has left the NHS in a continual state of crisis,” the report said.
When it comes to funding a whopping 84% of people polled said they thought the NHS had a severe problem, with 48% voting that ministers should increase taxes and spend more on the health service.
It was people with the most monthly income that were more likely to choose “increase taxes and spend more on the NHS” than keep taxes the same or reduce them.
Dan Wellings, a senior fellow at the King’s Fund – which sponsors health and care questions in the poll – said political leaders should “take note” of how far satisfaction levels have fallen ahead of the upcoming general election.
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Professor Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, added that any party wanting to be in Downing Street in a year “must demonstrate clear intent” of investing in nursing to improve pay conditions and stabilise the workforce.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said it was “fully committed” to a “faster, simpler and fairer NHS” and has seen “good progress” in cutting waiting lists in England.
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“We are providing the NHS with record funding of nearly £165bn a year by the end of this Parliament, an increase of 13% in real terms compared to 2019,” they said.
“Overall NHS waiting lists have decreased for the fourth month in a row and we’ve delivered on our commitment to provide an extra 50 million GP appointments months ahead of schedule.”
The top 220 holders of US President Donald Trump’s memecoin met yesterday at the president’s golf course in Virginia for an exclusive dinner and purported meet-and-greet.
Attendees spent a grand total of $148 million for an “ultra-exclusive VIP reception with the president,” which crypto industry advocates and critics alike saw as a potential opportunity to discuss crypto policy with the president.
The crowd contained a number of foreign crypto executives and influencers who otherwise would not have access to the US president, raising questions around corruption and foreign influence.
Concerns were further augmented when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to release a list of attendees, stating that the event was a private affair outside of Trump’s presidential duties.
However, some attendees spoke to the press or took to social media to talk about the dinner. Here are just a few:
Justin Sun
Tron founder Justin Sun was the largest TRUMP tokenholder at the gala, which was reportedly enough to earn him a special watch, presented in a special ceremony.
Sun’s presence at the event was particularly controversial. Last year, he faced a lawsuit brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the alleged “orchestration of the unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting of crypto asset securities.”
The SEC asked for a reprieve in late February, just over a month since Trump’s inauguration and the subsequent 180 in federal agencies’ approach toward regulating crypto.
Outside the crypto dinner, Sun posted on May 21 that he would be spending a week in Washington, DC to have “meaningful conversations that will help shape the next chapter of blockchain’s future” in the United States.
Kain Warwick
Kain Warwick, founder of crypto exchange operator iFinex, told The New York Times on May 12 that he was attending the event after stocking up on enough TRUMP to break the top 25 investors on the leaderboard.
Warwick said he wanted to have a shot at meeting the president, or someone on his team, to talk crypto — specifically decentralized finance (DeFi), which is getting less attention in the current crop of crypto bills circulating the US Congress.
“If you assume Trump and 10 people within the Trump team are there, now you’ve got a one in 15 shot of having a conversation with one of them,” he said.
Vincent Liu
Vincent Liu, chief investment officer of crypto trading, VC and market-making firm Kronos Research, attended the event, posting pictures of the menu and Trump’s brief speech.
Liu wrote, “Simply by holding the Trump token, individuals have an unprecedented opportunity to meet the President of the United States.”
He had previously told Cointelegraph, “The decision to acquire the [TRUMP] token was not political. It was based on identifying early momentum, cultural relevance and potential market catalysts.”
Related: US lawmaker introduces anti-corruption bill ahead of Trump’s dinner
His firm stated that “alpha” — i.e., exclusive or difficult-to-obtain information that could move markets — was “on the menu.”
Lamar Odom
Also in attendance was two-time National Basketball Association champion Lamar Odom. While many other crypto entrepreneurs in the audience were focused on policy, Odom used news of his attendance to plug his own memecoin, ODOM.
Odom launched his memecoin less than a week before the dinner on May 14. The anti-addiction-themed memecoin (Odom had a public battle with substance addiction) is issued on the Solana blockchain.
The coin itself had a 20% “Trump Dinner Program” staking scheme, where TRUMP holders could stake their coins with Odom’s project, ostensibly to enable him to attend the dinner event, and receive ODOM airdrops in return. Odom himself will hold 5% of all ODOM.
Sangrok Oh
CEO of Seoul- and Tokyo-based cryptocurrency management firm Hyperithm, Sangrok Oh was the 13th-largest TRUMP holder with a wallet containing over $3 million worth of the token, according to the Straits Times.
Oh told The New York Times that he had arrived with a batch of red “Make Crypto Great Again” hats to give away at the dinner and expected to speak directly with the president. “It’s kind of a fund-raiser […] And he’ll always be good to his sponsors.”
Oh has been critical of the slow regulatory progress for crypto in the countries where his company operates.
Anonymous attendees
In addition to crypto execs and sports stars, the event also noted a few anonymous or pseudonymous crypto traders and entrepreneurs in attendance.
Among them was “Ice,” co-founder of the Singaporean crypto company MemeCore. Their company’s chief business development officer, Cherry Hsu, told Sherwood News that Trump’s rise “represents the power of memes to influence culture, perception, and movements — principles that align with MemeCore’s vision of a decentralized, community-driven future.”
“Ogle,” a cybersecurity adviser to Trump’s own World Liberty Financial crypto enterprise, as well as the pseudonymous co-founder of blockchain ecosystem Glue, also attended. Ogle said they were going out of curiosity, more than anything, and did not endorse Trump personally. “I’m hoping it’ll be fun — and hoping they’ll serve McDonald’s.”
Another anonymous attendee was “Cryptoo Bear,” a crypto trader and occasional news reporter who posts primarily in Japanese. Cryptoo Bear made no political statements about the event, mainly posting about the swag and the food. They did say they were promised a photo op with the president, but it didn’t pan out.
Dinner “guests” across the picket line
Outside the country club, US senators and former staffers attended the event as part of a protest.
Bloomberg reported that protestors shouted “Shame!” and “I hope you choke on your dinner!” at attendees. Critics of the event widely consider it to be a glaring example of corruption in Washington and within the Trump administration.
Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, joined the protest. “The spirit of the Constitution was that no one elected would be selling influence to anyone,” he said, “because it’s to be government by and for the people.”
Ken Papaj, a former Treasury Department official, said, “Every time there’s a transaction, he gets a transaction fee? Just unconscionable what he’s doing.”
The dinner comes at a pivotal time for the crypto industry in the US, where the industry is pushing hard for Congress to pass friendly regulations. Trump’s ties may complicate matters, however, as lawmakers have introduced anti-corruption bills targeting crypto and politicians.
Senate Democrats are also taking aim at the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act, introducing a slew of amendments addressing Trump’s crypto businesses.
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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize more than $24 million in cryptocurrency from Rustam Rafailevich Gallyamov, a Russian national accused of developing the Qakbot malware.
According to a May 22 announcement, the DOJ unsealed charges against the 48-year-old Moscovite with a federal indictment. Gallyamov is allegedly the malware developer behind the Qakbot botnet.
“Today’s announcement of the Justice Department’s latest actions to counter the Qakbot malware scheme sends a clear message to the cybercrime community,” said Matthew Galeotti, head of the DOJ’s criminal division.
Galeotti highlighted that the DOJ is “determined to hold cybercriminals accountable.” He added that the department will “use every legal tool” to “identify you, charge you, forfeit your ill-gotten gains, and disrupt your criminal activity.”
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Over $24 million forfeited
US Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California explained that “the criminal charges and forfeiture case announced today are part of an ongoing effort” to “identify, disrupt, and hold accountable cybercriminals.” He added:
“The forfeiture action against more than $24 million in virtual assets also demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to seizing ill-gotten assets from criminals in order to ultimately compensate victims.”
Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said that Qakbot was crippled by the agency and its partners in 2023. Still, Gallyamov allegedly continued deploying alternative methods to offer his malware to potential partners.
Related: Chinese printer maker spread Bitcoin stealing malware — Report
Qakbot used in global ransomware attacks
Gallyamov allegedly operated the Qakbot malware as far back as 2008. In 2019, he allegedly used it to infect thousands of victim computers to establish a so-called botnet.
Access to computers that were part of the botnet was sold to others who infected them with ransomware, including Prolock, Dopplepaymer, Egregor, REvil, Conti, Name Locker, Black Bast and Cactus. In 2023, a US-led international operation disrupted the Qakbot botnet and malware.
At the time, over 170 Bitcoin (BTC) and over $4 million in USDt (USDT) and USDC (USDC) stablecoins were seized from Gallyamov. According to the indictment, he and his collaborators continued the activity after it was disrupted, adopting new techniques, including directly deploying Black Basta and Cactus ransomware.
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In this week’s episode of Byte-Sized Insight, on Decentralize with Cointelegraph, we break down a pivotal moment for US crypto legislation.
In a 66–32 procedural vote on May 19, the US Senate advanced the GENIUS Act, a landmark bill aimed at establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins. Meanwhile, across the Capitol, Representative Tom Emmer reintroduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, backed by bipartisan support.
Breaking down GENIUS
The GENIUS Act — short for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act” — seeks to answer foundational questions around stablecoin issuance and oversight.
“It defines this idea of a payment stablecoin,” explained Rashan Colbert, director of US policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation, in this week’s interview. Colbert emphasized that the bill doesn’t stop at definitions.
“It outlines in a robust way just who’s allowed to do this and what they need to look like.”
By this, he’s referring to guidelines on who can be permitted issuers like bank subsidiaries, credit unions and approved non-bank entities.
Related: Interest groups, lawmakers to protest Trump’s memecoin dinner
This bipartisan momentum seen backing the GENIUS Act is both exciting and significant.
“There has been latent support within Congress, including within the Democratic caucus,” Colbert said. “They just haven’t had the opportunity to take meaningful votes.”
Blockchain dev protection
On the House side, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, co-sponsored by Representatives Emmer and Ritchie Torres, aims to give legal clarity to developers and service providers who don’t custody customer funds.
“It clarifies that they are not money transmitters,” said Colbert. “That’s the clarity these builders and entrepreneurs need to continue operating successfully.”
With crypto adoption on the rise — particularly among minority communities — Colbert said the pressure is on. “Something like one in five Americans hold crypto. That number is even larger in the Black, Latino and Asian-American communities,” he noted.
Looking ahead, the push toward broader market structure reform will be more complex. Colbert’s advice? Get involved. “It really is, at the end of the day, the people making their voices heard,” he said. “Crypto is a big deal — and Capitol Hill is finally starting to listen.”
Listen to the full episode of Byte-Sized Insight for the complete interview on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows!
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