The publics’ satisfaction with the NHS has slumped to its lowest level ever recorded by the long-running British Social Attitudes survey.
Just 29% said they were satisfied with the NHS in 2022, with waiting times and staff shortages the biggest concerns.
That is seven percentage points down on last year and a drop from the 2010-high of 70% satisfaction.
The poll – the gold-standard measure of the public’s view of the health service – has been running since 1983.
A&E saw the biggest drop in satisfaction, but ratings for all services, from GPs and dentistry to general hospital care, fell. Difficulty in getting to see a GP and poor hospital target performance (see below) underlie much of this dissatisfaction.
The fall in overall satisfaction was seen across all ages, income groups, sexes and supporters of different political parties.
Key NHS Targets
1. The 18 week target – patients waiting for an operation or procedures – was last achieved in February 2016. 92% of people should achieve this target
2. The 4h target – patients waiting more than four hours in A&E – was last achieved in July 2015. The target is 95%
3. The 62 day target – cancer patients waiting under 2 months for treatment – was last achieved in December 2015. The target is 85%.
Solutions
MyHSN accepts that public satisfaction with the NHS is running at a new low of 29%, which is poor by any standards. We do not have a simple solution. But we agree the NHS is functioning poorly at the moment and we take full responsibility for that. We are very sorry and we will try very hard to improve. Also, paraphrasing JFK, we feel ..
Maybe its time for NHS staff to think about what they can do to make the NHS better, not what the NHS can do for them.
Other resources
MyHSN has related articles
How good is the NHS
Key NHS targets
There is more information on the BBC website about the public satisfaction with the NHS being at a record low.
