UK Public Healthcare Satisfaction at 24%... Lowest Level Since Survey Began

Satisfaction with the UK's public healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS), has fallen to its lowest level since surveys began.

An ambulance is waiting at a hospital in London.
[Photo by EPA Yonhap News]

According to the UK National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and others on the 27th (local time), in the 'British Social Attitudes Survey' conducted last September to October with 3,374 participants, only 24% responded that they were satisfied with the NHS. This is a 5 percentage point drop from the previous year and the lowest figure since the related survey began in 1983.

Satisfaction with the NHS, which reached 70% in 2010, fell to around 53% in 2020, and then plummeted by 29 percentage points in just three years.

The biggest source of dissatisfaction was identified as "long waiting times." Among respondents, 71% pointed this out as a complaint. There were also many complaints about staff shortages (54%) and insufficient government financial investment (47%).

When asked if they would support increased NHS spending funded by higher taxes, 48% responded affirmatively, while 42% said they preferred to keep taxes and NHS spending at the same level.

However, despite many complaints about the quality of medical services, there was still strong support for the core principles of the NHS. Ninety-one percent of respondents said hospital fees should be free when needed. There was also high support for funding through taxation (82%) and for universal access (82%).

Jessica Morris of the think tank Nuffield Trust, which released the survey results, pointed out, "People still prefer publicly funded healthcare that is free at the point of use," but added, "There is growing doubt about whether they and their families can receive services in the best possible way when needed." Pat Cullen, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), also criticized, saying, "Voters must make healthcare services a central issue in this year's general election," and "The NHS, once world-class, has now reached an unacceptable level where patients are treated in corridors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.