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.
Read more:
‘Doctors leaving Wales in their droves’
Health workers to receive one-off payments
Doctors whose lives were devastated by long COVID to sue NHS
‘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.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
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.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
“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.”
Concerns were raised after a Bloomberg article reported Kraken was “actively reviewing” which tokens it could continue to list under the European Union’s upcoming MiCA framework.
The conviction of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev reinforces a very broad interpretation of criminal liability, which has major repercussions for blockchain.
The defence secretary has said he is “angry inside” over the infected blood scandal ahead of a long-waited report into the decades-long injustice.
Grant Shapps told Sky News he agreed it had been one of the most “shameful failures” of government and said he was dismayed by the “lack of anybody taking responsibility”.
The findings of a public inquiry into the scandal, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, are due to be published on Monday.
From 1970 to the 1990s, tens of thousands of people were infected with contaminated blood through blood products or blood transfusions given via the NHS. People were infected with hepatitis or HIV – in some cases with both.
An estimated 3,000 people died as a result.
Politics latest: West in an ‘existential battle’ over world order, Shapps warns
Mr Shapps told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the scandal was a “massive injustice which needs to be put right” and said the government would act on the report.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Thousands of people died after being given infected blood
He said that while he was yet to see the report, he hoped it would finally allow families’ pain and loss to be acknowledged and for the government to properly respond.
Mr Shapps said he had spoken to relatives of several victims, including a couple who had lost their son, and said their stories made feel him “angry inside”.
He added: “It just made me angry to know they had lost their son without anyone ever taking responsibility, so I think this is why this report tomorrow is very important.”
Successive governments have been blamed for failing to take responsibility and the current government has been accused of trying to delay compensation to victims after an inquiry was first set up by Theresa May in 2017.
It is estimated that the compensation bill could now exceed £10m.
The defence secretary admitted the process of delivering payouts to victims had gone on for “so long”.
He added: “This is a massive injustice which needs to be put right.
“And I know the government said we will. The report tomorrow, I think, will be the day for that family and others and I know the government will want to respond quickly.”
Asked whether Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would apologise to the victims, Mr Shapps said: “I don’t want to mislead because I don’t have special insight into that.”
Read more:
Boy, 7, was used in secret blood trials, parents say
Doctor’s horror over scandal
Blood donations ‘collected from UK prisons’
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting also told Trevor Phillips that he expected “successive governments” to be criticised in the report by Sir Brian.
“Everyone has got their responsibility to bear in this appalling scandal and we have got a shared responsibility to put it right,” he said.
“The moment to act can’t come soon enough.”
Sir Brian is due to deliver his final report just after midday on Monday.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment12 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports1 month agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports7 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Environment1 year agoTesla advances Powerwall pilot project with German electric company