Public satisfaction with the NHS is falling because of long waits to see a doctor, staff shortages and the service getting too little money, new research reveals.
Satisfaction levels have fallen by 5% over the past year, while at the same time dissatisfaction has jumped by 8% – the largest year-on-year rise ever seen.
Just six in 10 (60%) Britons now say they are satisfied with the NHS, a sharp drop since the all-time high of 70% who voiced satisfaction as recently as 2010.
Although GPs emerged from the latest British Social Attitudes survey as the area of NHS care with the highest ratings, satisfaction with them has dropped 10% since 2009 to 69% – the lowest since researchers began compiling the annual survey in 1983.
Almost one in four people (23%) were dissatisfied with the NHS in 2015, 8% more than 2014, NatCen Social Research, the survey’s compiler, found. Asked why, the commonest reason, mentioned by 55%, was “it takes too long to get a GP or hospital appointment”. “Not enough NHS staff” was cited by 44%, while 39% said “the government doesn’t spend enough money on the NHS”.
Prof John Appleby, the chief economist at the King’s Fund thinktank, which helped produce the survey, said: “The latest survey underlines the high value the British public place on the quality of care [the NHS] provides and its availability free at the point of use. It is no surprise to find that dissatisfaction is driven by waiting times for appointments and perceptions of underfunding and staff shortages.”
The findings, based on responses from 2,167 people in England, Scotland and Wales, show that satisfaction with key aspects of the NHS have declined since 2010, when it stopped receiving the big year-on-year budget increases it had been used to, despite rising demand for care.
While 66% voice satisfaction with hospital outpatient services, just 58% said the same about inpatient care. Even fewer, barely half – 53% – said they were satisfied with A&E services, which have come under serious pressure in recent years due to the ageing population, lack of GP out-of-hours services and a lack of A&E doctors.
However, among the 60% who are satisfied with the NHS, quality of care – cited by 61% – is the most common reason. That is closely followed by the NHS being free at the point of care to use (59%) and the range of services and treatments it provides to patients (54%).
Two in five cited the “attitude and behaviour of NHS staff” as another reason for satisfaction.
Social care services provided by local councils scored much lower. Barely one in four (26%) people are satisfied – a 5% drop inside a year.
The key question asked by NatCen was: “All in all, how satisfied or dissatisfied would you say you are with the way the National Health Service runs nowadays?”
Over-75s, who use NHS services the most, are the most likely to declare themselves very or quite satisfied. Those aged 35 to 54 are the least satisfied.
However, the NHS will draw comfort from the fact that those who had personal contact with the service during the year before the survey was undertaken between last July and October were more positive than those who had no contact or had a friend or relative who received NHS care.
People in Scotland are the most satisfied, followed by those in England and then Wales. The survey did not cover Northern Ireland.
The government declined to respond in detail to the findings and blamed falling satisfaction levels on the extra pressures created by the ageing population.
“There is pressure on the NHS as our population ages, and that’s why the government is investing record amounts to transform care,” a government spokesman said.
“This survey shows that satisfaction with services fell by nearly twice as much in Scotland as in England, and that public satisfaction in England is six points higher than in Wales.”
Government sources sought to blame dwindling satisfaction on Labour’s efforts to highlight the NHS in the runup to last year’s general election – to “weaponise” it, as David Cameron accused Ed Miliband of doing. “Perhaps the most noticeable feature is the 11% drop in satisfaction among Labour voters, which the Labour party in Westminster should reflect on,” said a government source.
However, while the election was held last May, the fieldwork was done afterwards, between July and October.