Public satisfaction with the NHS and social care in 2023: Results from the British Social Attitudes Survey (27 March 2024)

Summary

Public satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded, according to analysis of the latest British Social Attitudes survey (BSA) published by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust.

Just 24% of people are satisfied with the way the NHS is running, a fall of 5 percentage points from 2022 and a 29 percentage point drop since 2020. Despite these record lows, the overwhelming majority of survey respondents expressed high levels of support for the principles the NHS was founded upon, in particular that it should be free of charge when needed. Nearly half of those surveyed also support the government increasing taxes and spending more on the NHS.

Content

Top three findings from the BSA survey 2023 

• The 2023 survey recorded the lowest levels of satisfaction since the survey began in 1983 – only 24% of the public are satisfied with the NHS, and only 13% are satisfied with social care. (See Public satisfaction with the NHS and social care in 2023)
• Despite low levels of public satisfaction, a large majority of the public still support the principles of the NHS. (See Public support for the principles of the NHS in 2023)
• 48% of the public would support the government increasing taxes and spending more on the NHS. (See Public support for the government increasing taxes to pay for the NHS in 2023)

Why are the 2023 findings important?

• The BSA survey results enable us to see long-term trends in public satisfaction with the NHS and social care services. In the current social-political-economic context, the 2023 results bring important insight. 
• Public satisfaction with the NHS and its services is now in uncharted territory.
• The past few years have seen unprecedented drops in overall satisfaction. Since 2020, satisfaction has fallen by 29 percentage points.
• For the first time in the survey’s history, less than a quarter of the public say they are satisfied with the NHS overall, and satisfaction with individual NHS services is at record lows.
• The public largely agree on the way forward for the NHS.
• Despite the challenges the NHS is currently facing, the public are not looking for changes to the principles of the NHS. They do not want a different model – they want the one they have got to work. They are clear they want to see improvements in waiting times for services, funding and the number of NHS staff.
• Despite the current challenging economic climate, nearly half of the public (48%) support the government increasing taxes to spend more on the NHS.