Polling data from the Health Foundation and Ipsos shows that only 12 per cent of the public agree that their government has the right policies for the NHS, with more than half disagreeing.

The polling highlights increasing evidence that the public are pessimistic about governments’ handling of the NHS, despite ‘Protecting the NHS’ being at the heart of the government’s response to the pandemic, as well as standards of care. Confidence in national policies for social care is even lower, with only eight per cent agreeing the government has the right policies for social care.  

People’s top three priorities for the NHS are: addressing the pressure on or workload of the NHS staff (37 per cent); increasing the number of staff in the NHS (36 per cent); and improving waiting times for routine services (35 per cent).  

More than half of the public in the UK think that the general standard of care provided by the NHS has got worse in the last 12 months, while 69 per cent think the standard of social care services has deteriorated. People were most likely to think the pressure on NHS staff (85 per cent), waiting times for routine services (84 per cent) and access to GP services (77 per cent) has got worse over the last 12 months.

Despite concerns, public support for the core principles of the NHS remains very strong. The vast majority think that the NHS should be free at the point of delivery (89 per cent), provide a comprehensive service available to everyone (88 per cent), and should be funded primarily through taxation (85 per cent).

The Health Foundation has long been calling for a comprehensive workforce strategy from government to address the huge and growing workforce gap facing the NHS and social care in England over the next decade. While government has begun a wide-ranging reform agenda and committed substantial additional funding, a plan to address the workforce shortage is yet to materialise despite the public showing increasing concern about the pressures on staff.  

Tim Gardner, Senior Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably caused major shifts in public attitudes towards health, the NHS and social care. With health and care services still experiencing substantial pressure, understanding the consequences for people’s perceptions and expectations is vital in ensuring the right policies are put in place for recovery.

“It is particularly telling that supporting and growing the workforce are among the public’s top priorities for the NHS. Staff are overstretched and exhausted, and it’s clear that the public are noticing. Despite waning confidence in the government’s policies, backing for the core principles of the NHS remains very strong. The public clearly wants to see the health service supported to recover from the pandemic, not radical changes to the NHS model.

“With government yet to come forward with a comprehensive workforce strategy and waiting lists at record highs, it is no surprise that the public’s faith in government’s current NHS policies is low. While views differ on the priorities for the NHS, taking action to address the workforce crisis will be the one key ingredient that will enable progress against all of the public’s top priorities.”