Public sceptical of NHS ‘improvements’
There is overwhelming public support for the NHS and people are most likely to say health services should be the top spending priority for government, a new poll finds.
Worryingly for Tony Blair and his likely successor, however, the public are sceptical that the NHS has improved over the past ten years, despite record investment.
A Royal College of Nursing (RCN) survey, conducted by YouGov, found that 36 per cent of the public believe the health service has improved under the Labour government, but the same number claim it has not seen any improvement.
A Department of Health (DH) spokesperson responded that the NHS budget has doubled since 1997 and by 2008 will have almost tripled. This extra funding has led to reduced waiting times, new hospitals and surgeries, more doctors and nurses and improved access to healthcare.
However, the RCN found that the public fear these improvements will recede when NHS funding is cut after 2008. Nearly three-quarters predict waiting lists and times will increase, quality of care will suffer and patients will be denied access to key services.
Nearly four in five respondents said the government was right to increase public spending on the NHS and three in five say the government should order further increases, while nearly a third argue current spending levels must be maintained.
The public appear opposed to NHS cuts; with 37 per cent say health must be the top spending priority for any government. This surpassed the 23 per cent prioritising law and order, 20 per cent for education and ten per cent calling for more spending on the environment.
General secretary of the RCN, Dr Peter Carter, said: “With elections looming in Scotland and Wales, as well as local elections in many parts of England, the electorate may well punish our politicians at the ballot box if health is not top of their agenda.
“The message from voters to those who aspire to govern is crystal clear – if you want us to support you, you must support the NHS.”
The DH defended the government’s record on the NHS. A spokesperson argued: “All parts of the NHS are consistently delivering for patients against national priorities – even amid financial pressures in a minority of organisations. NHS organisations continue to use their record increases in funding to speed up treatment and improve quality of care for patients.”
To maintain spending levels, 46 per cent of the public support the idea of a dedicated NHS tax, although only 17 per cent think it should be levied against all tax payers.
Dr Carter continued: “This survey is proof that the public value and believe in our NHS; that they want modernisation, not privatisation; and that they demand increased investment in order to maintain the welcome progress made in recent years.
“The NHS is a unique public institution with a unique role in our national life and it should be supported and sustained. That’s what the public believe and that’s the message our politicians need to hear and act upon”.
The latest findings follow a British Medical Association poll which found nearly half of junior doctors expect to leave the NHS within two years.
The Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb responded that it is “remarkable how the government has so spectacularly lost the confidence of the medical profession at a time of record investment in the NHS.”
However, politicians have frequently argued that the public often report a general dissatisfaction with the health service, but are more positive about their own experiences with local services, suggesting a discrepancy between perception and reality.
