Mental health seen as the biggest health issue, while Brits continue to worry about overstretched NHS

Ipsos has released its Ipsos Health Service Report - a 31-country study looking at the biggest health’s problems and the public’s attitudes to the quality of healthcare provided.

Key findings in the UK include:

• Over 8 in 10 Britons believe the NHS is overstretched: 82% of Britons believe their healthcare system is overstretched, the highest percentage among the 31 countries surveyed. 
• Declining satisfaction with healthcare quality: Only half (50%) of Britons rate the quality of their healthcare as good, an 8 pp decrease from the previous year and a 23 pp decrease since 2018.
• Growing concern about waiting times: 75% of Britons believe waiting times for doctor appointments are too long, higher than the global average of 67%.
• Access to treatment a major challenge: Over half of Britons believe access to treatment/waiting times (55%) is the biggest problems facing their healthcare system, up 8 pp from the previous year and is the highest it has been in the six years since the survey began. This is followed closely by not having enough staff (54%).
• Increased optimism about future improvements: Despite current challenges, the proportion of Britons who believe the quality of care will improve in the future has increased to 26% (up from 20% in 2023 and 8% in 2018).

Key Global findings include: 

• Mental health is a bigger priority and more widespread. Almost one in two (45%) across 31 countries see mental health as one of the biggest health concerns in their country, up from 27% in 2018. In 12 countries a majority choose mental health this year, while back in 2018 only three did.
• Women are the most likely to be worried about mental health. While both men and women say mental health is one of the biggest health problems, 51% of women pick it while 40% of men do. This gap is even wider among the youngest generation with 55% of Gen Z choosing mental health compared to 37% of their male counterparts.
• Cancer seen less as a problem. In 18 of the 31 countries the number of people choosing cancer as one of the biggest health problems has fallen in the last year. These include some of the countries with the highest cancer incidence rates in the world. It is now ranked second overall, mentioned by 38%. In 2018 it was in first place, and a priority for 52%.
• Fewer people think the quality of their healthcare is good. Forty-four per cent on average describe the quality of the healthcare they have access to as good. Satisfaction rose during the Covid-19 pandemic (53% in 2021) and has now returned to where it was in 2018 (44%).
• Healthcare systems being overstretched a growing issue. Two-thirds (64%) feel their healthcare system is overstretched. This figure has steadily risen since the start of the Ipsos Health Service Report series and is up ten percentage points since 2018. Great Britain is the most likely to say this is the case in their country (82%).

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed 24,668 people online in the following countries between July 26 and August 9, 2024. Quotas were set to ensure representativeness and data have been weighted to the known population profile of each country. The sample consists of approximately 1,500 individuals each in Germany and Brazil, and 1,000 individuals each in Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals each in Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Türkiye. The sample in India consists of approximately 2,200 individuals, of whom approximately 1,800 were interviewed face-to-face and 400 were interviewed online.