NHS confidence in ‘freefall’
pharmafile | June 12, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | NHS, freefall, government, king's fund, reforms
The Department of Health has disputed a report which says that people’s confidence in the NHS is in freefall.
British Social Attitudes Survey data published by The King’s Fund, says public satisfaction with the way the NHS runs fell from 70% in 2010 to 58% in 2011 – the biggest drop in three decades.
The government refutes the figures, pointing out that 92% of respondents to its own annual patient survey said their experience was either ‘good’, ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’.
“The British Social Attitudes Survey targets the general public rather than targeting people that have actually used the NHS, so responses are influenced by other factors,” health minister Simon Burns told the BBC.
“By its nature it is not as accurate a picture as the data from patients,” he added.
The King’s Fund, which sponsored the health questions, says the survey’s value is that it has tracked public satisfaction over a long period, and therefore offers “an important barometer of how the public view the NHS”.
However, the report supports Burns’ view by suggesting that the dip in satisfaction – and worries about individual NHS services – probably do not reflect any deterioration in actual quality.
A thousand people were quizzed on the NHS from July to November last year – the time when the government’s health reforms received significant media coverage and health spending began to be frozen.
Therefore the reasons for the fall are likely to be linked to a lack of confidence about the reforms themselves and about the economic situation, all of which may have been enflamed by heated debates in parliament and media over changes to the NHS.
And the government will take heart from the fact that, despite the big fall between 2010 and 2011, NHS satisfaction remains at its third highest level since the survey began in 1983 anyway – although it had gone up almost continuously since 2000.
“The run of year-on-year increases in NHS satisfaction had to come to an end at some stage, and it is not surprising this has happened when the NHS is facing a well-publicised spending squeeze,” said John Appleby, chief economist at the think tank.
“Nevertheless, it is something of a shock that it has fallen so significantly. This will be a concern to the government given it appears to be closely linked with the debate on its NHS reforms,” Appleby added.
The survey data also shows that satisfaction with GP services fell for the second consecutive year, dropping from 77% in 2010 to 73% last year.
Satisfaction with hospital services also fell from 2010 to 2011:
- inpatient 59% to 55%
- outpatient 68% to 61%
- A&E 61% to 54 per cent.
Satisfaction among supporters of all three main political parties has also dropped over the same period – another factor which, the report suggests, could have influenced people’s attitudes to the NHS.
Adam Hill
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