Blow for Wes Streeting as 'more than half of Brits dissatisfied with the NHS'
A survey has revealed what people really think about the health service.
Just 26% of people are satisfied with the NHS, while 51% are dissatisfied, a major poll reveals. The latest British Social Attitudes survey — considered the gold standard measure of public views on the health service — found satisfaction has risen for the first time since the pandemic, and was up from 21% in 2024.
However, it remained well below the 60% level seen in 2019 and the 70% peak recorded in 2010, shortly after the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition Government took power. Optimism that care will get better has also fallen to a record low, with only 16% of people expecting the standard of NHS care to improve in the next five years. And there was no significant increase in satisfaction with waiting times or social care.
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The survey of almost 3,500 people across England, Scotland and Wales was carried out by the National Centre for Social Research between August and October. The findings were analysed by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust.
Dan Wellings, a senior fellow at The King’s Fund, said: “The rise in public satisfaction will be welcome relief for an NHS that has seen satisfaction plummet in recent years.
“But whether this marks the start of a genuine recovery or is just brief respite remains an open question.
“Frustration with waiting times remains deeply embedded, and many people still feel that access to NHS care is difficult — either it is too hard to get through the front door or they are in a queue that barely moves.”
The survey also found two thirds of people felt the Government was spending too little on the NHS, and only 13% agreed that the health service spends money efficiently.
Some 45% said they would support raising taxes to spend more on the NHS, while 43% said taxation and spending should remain at the current level.
Only 8% said they would choose to cut taxes and spend less on the NHS.
NHS chief executive Sir James Mackey said the improvement in satisfaction was “really encouraging and testimony to what’s been achieved over the last year”.
But he added: “We’ve still got a long way to go: while I’m incredibly proud of how teams up and down the country are working hard to make sure patients get the services they want and need, there is a huge amount of work ahead of us to get the NHS back to the levels of service our public rightly expect.”
Wes Streeting is expected to highlight the drop in dissatisfaction in a speech today on Wednesday, while announcing new measures to tackle worst performing hospital trusts.
Commenting on the survey, the Health Secretary said patients were “beginning to feel the change and the NHS is showing that things can get better”.
He added: “The biggest drop in dissatisfaction since 1998 doesn’t happen by accident. It is thanks to the government’s investment and modernisation — all of which has been hard fought but is now delivering results.
“The NHS is on the road to recovery, but there’s a lot of road ahead. My foot is pressing down on the accelerator and I won’t stop until the job is done.”
