London, Thanasis Gavos

British people’s satisfaction with the NHS public health system has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded, according to a newer pulse measurement.

According to the regular measurement of British Social Attitudes, in 2023 only 24% of citizens in England, Scotland and Wales declared themselves satisfied with the services provided, with 52% being unsatisfied.

As the main causes of dissatisfaction the difficulty of finding an appointment with the neighborhood general practitioners (GP) of the first level of care and the even longer wait for hospital treatment are pointed out.

At or close to historical lows are individual satisfaction rates with care in emergency and accident units, with dental care and with social care, an area in which only 13% of citizens consider the services provided to be satisfactory.

The satisfaction level was down 5% compared to the previous year, falling to the lowest rate since 1983, when the measure began.

The highest satisfaction rate with the NHS, at 70%, recorded in 2010, that is, the year when power was handed over from Labor to the Conservatives, who implemented a policy of economic austerity.

From 2020 onwards satisfaction rate has decreased by 29 percentage points. According to the analysis accompanying the measure, “a decade of squeezed funding and chronic workforce shortages, followed by a global pandemic, has left the NHS in a perpetual state of crisis.”

When asked what the top priorities for improving the NHS should be, most said making GP appointments easier (52%) and increasing the workforce of the health system (51%).

However, it remains at the same high level to uphold the founding principles of the NHS, which is to remain free of charge for those who need it, available to all and primarily funded through taxes paid.

84% of citizens think so that there is a serious problem of its underfunding public health, with 48% supporting a tax increase to fill the funding gap.