54% lack confidence in quality of local NHS services for this winter as concerns over waiting lists intensify
- Labour extends lead as most trusted to improve the NHS
Confidence in local NHS services
Six in ten, 59%, are very/fairly confident that a friend or family member would receive good care from local NHS services, 39% lack confidence (not very confident/not at all). In January 2015, a time when there were also warnings about the pressure facing the NHS over the winter, 83% were confident.
Only 44% are confident local NHS services will provide high quality care to patients during this current winter, but 54% do not have much confidence. In January 2015, 72% were confident, while 16% were not.
Waiting times
Concerns over waiting times are widespread and strengthening. 84% agree that waiting times are too long for emergency care (up 6 points since December 2021), including 64% who strongly agree (up 19 points).
Even more, 89%, agree that waiting times are too long for non-emergency care (up 2 pts since his time last year, although those who strongly agree has risen 10 pts to 67%).
When asked who is most to blame for long waiting lists, the top answers from the public are not enough doctors and nurses/overworked/undertrained/underpaid staff (39%), underfunding/cuts generally (34%) and Conservative government/party policies (26%).
Most trusted party on the NHS
Labour has extended its lead as the party most trusted to improve the NHS. Nearly half, 47%, trust Labour most, up 5 points since September, while only 11% trust the Conservatives most, down 9 points. Even among the Conservatives’ 2019 voters, views are split: 29% trust the Conservatives most to improve the NHS, 32% Labour (although the Conservatives are most trusted among their current supporters, at 41%).
Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos UK, says of the findings:
“The severity of public anxiety for the NHS this winter is plain to see, with worries over waiting lists intensifying and just over half lacking confidence that local health services can provide a high quality of care for patients over the season. Some of this is partly down to long-running concerns over staffing issues and funding, not to mention the effects of the pandemic, but the Conservatives do not escape blame, with Labour extending its lead as most trusted on the NHS. And with the focus on the challenges facing the health service only likely to continue over the cold months, this could be a crucial political battleground.”
