For the government, news that public satisfaction with the NHS has increased for the first time since 2019 came as a huge relief. After 20 difficult months in office, ministers can point to proof that one public service at least is getting better, in spite of doctors’ strikes. The annual survey also found that the proportion of people who are dissatisfied with social care provided by councils has fallen, although the change here is less marked.
Given the low base from which this boost has been measured, and ongoing problems in multiple areas, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, was careful to temper his evident glee in a speech on Wednesday, with pledges of further improvement. Since the NHS is widely regarded as his party’s proudest achievement, and the UK’s most cherished institution, a figure of 26% declaring themselves to be satisfied, compared with 51% who are dissatisfied, sounds more like a cause for concern than celebration.
But judging from these figures, the public appears inclined to accept the government’s narrative of a broken system being painstakingly put back together. Since voters have historically trusted Labour more than other parties when it comes to health, this is intuitive: the politicians who they thought would be better at running the NHS are now in charge.
The survey is UK-wide and since health is devolved, the administrations in Northern Ireland and Wales must take responsibility for their much lower satisfaction ratings. But in England too the situation is patchy. Six trusts regarded as failing have been warned to expect either to have new leadership teams imposed, or to be compelled to merge with more successful neighbours. A plan to compare the performance of regions including Manchester, where health is part of a devolution deal, with others where services are run along traditional lines, was also announced. This test of the theory that strengthened local democracy can boost public services should produce interesting results.
Big and urgent problems remain. On social care, maternity care, and mental health conditions, ADHD and autism, ministers are awaiting the delivery of three specially commissioned reports. Given the longstanding nature of the social care system’s problems, and well-documented failures in multiple maternity units, there is justified impatience among experts and sections of the public to move beyond the stage of diagnosing problems and towards solving them.
Waiting-lists for hospital treatment have come down a bit, but are still huge. NHS dentistry has probably never been in a weaker state. And while ministers decided against reimposing multiple targets, which can distort practice and incentives, waiting times in A&E remain a crucial metric for the public. This week resident doctors rejected the government’s latest pay offer and voted for another strike.
For all its flaws, the NHS remains one of the world’s more equitable health systems and it is good that more people are feeling positive about its capacity to meet their needs. Over time a loss of confidence, leading to private-sector growth, could become an existential threat. For that reason, all supporters of publicly funded healthcare should be concerned by the finding that younger voters appear to have less faith in it than older ones. Having pronounced the NHS “broken”, Mr Streeting and his colleagues need to hurry up with their repairs.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
