British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to NHS staff (Image: Getty)
Nearly six out of 10 people (57 per cent) now describe the quality of care in the NHS as moderate or low. Just 11 per cent say it is “very high”.
The research by Redfield and Wilton Strategies found more than half of people (55 per cent) believe most patients in the NHS could get better care. Fewer than four out of 10 people (38 per cent) thought patients get the best care possible.
When asked what has gone wrong with the NHS – an institution once so beloved it was celebrated in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics – the respondents are clear. Half say the greatest problem is the length of waiting lists, with one five citing the difficulty of getting a GP appointment.
Others think the standard of care patients receive is the biggest problem (seven per cent), and an equal share say the availability of mental health care is the top issue.
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Just three per cent say the cost to the taxpayer was the number one problem.
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Rishi Sunak has made bringing down NHS waiting lists one of his top five priorities. Figures released last month show the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England fell in October after reaching a peak of nearly 7.8 million in September.
There was a difficult moment for the Prime Minister last week when he was tackled during a walkabout in Winchester by a woman who said her daughter had spent “seven hours waiting”. She called on him to take the NHS “back to how it used to be”.
The polling shows Britons are split on whether NHS provides better care (30 per cent) or worse care (30 percent) than in other European countries.
Dr Kristian Niemietz of the Institute of Economic Affairs said this result would have “been unimaginable just a few years ago,” saying it is “patently obvious that the NHS falls behind many other European healthcare systems”.
There is strong support for more funding for the NHS, which has a resource budget in England for 2023-24 of nearly ￡169billion.
Nearly six out of 10 people (57 per cent) say the NHS needs more money to spend, while just 37 per cent say the health service needs to spend its cash “more wisely”.
When asked what would help the NHS the most, 34 per cent say greater funding from taxation, with 18 per cent saying pay increases for staff. Healthier lifestyle choices by the British public was the best solution according to 15 per cent of respondents, with only nine per cent citing more private sector involvement.
Fewer than one in 20 people (four per cent) think greater use of Artificial Intelligence would deliver the biggest benefit.
Tim Gardner of the Health Foundation said: “With people worried about the growing cost of living, that the public would prefer to see higher taxes to invest in a stronger health service speaks volumes about people’s attachment to the founding principles of the NHS.”
The findings show that 52 per cent disapprove of the Government’s performance on the NHS and only 17 per cent name Mr Sunak as the person they trust most to reform the health service, with 31 per cent opting for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “In 14 years, the Conservatives have taken the NHS from the envy of the world to the sick man of Europe. The public are right to judge that Keir Starmer is the man to reform the NHS.”
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He said a Labour Government would “scrap the non-dom tax status” and “pay staff extra to provide two million more operations and appointments at evenings and weekends”.
A source close to Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said: “Keir Starmer called the Welsh Labour Government a ‘blueprint’ for the UK despite their failings across housing, education, transport and the NHS.
In Wales, Labour is overseeing the longest hospital waits in Great Britain, is the only administration to have cut the NHS budget since 2010, has underfunded the NHS and consistently fail to meet targets.
“This is the same old Labour of more spending and more taxes. The Conservative Government is taking the long-term decisions to protect the health of future generations. We need to stick with the plan, because the alternative with Labour is going back to square one.
“Labour’s unfunded promises on healthcare in England would cost taxpayers billions, in addition to the ￡28 billion a year by 2030 spending promise they have already committed to and would inevitably hike up taxes to fund.”
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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The government is reforming our health system to make it faster, simpler, and fairer for patients. We’re providing record funding for the NHS, we’ve met our pledge to recruit 50,000 more nurses early, and we’ve put in place the first ever Long Term Workforce Plan to make sure the NHS has the staff it needs in the years ahead.
“We’re supporting the NHS to recover from the pandemic and deal with the Covid backlog. November was the first month without industrial action for over a year and we reduced the total waiting list by more than 95,000– the biggest decrease since December 2010, outside of the pandemic.
“To improve access to lifesaving tests and checks and to cut down on unnecessary hospital trips, we have opened 150 community diagnostic centres and 91 surgical hubs, and we are opening 75 new Family Hubs to make it easier for parents and families to access services locally.”
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