The NHS Is Not Meeting Londoners' Expectations

Londoners are less positive about the quality of NHS services than people nationally. However, this lower overall satisfaction for some measures masks the fact that opinion about the NHS is more polarized in London, with a larger proportion of residents either very satisfied or very dissatisfied than residents nationally. This suggests a perceived lack of consistency in the quality of services for different groups of Londoners, which is likely to be exacerbated by the heavier use of NHS services in London, particularly A&E departments, than elsewhere.

As nationally, cleanliness of hospitals and waiting times for appointments with hospital consultants, time waiting in A&E departments, waiting times for non-emergency operations and the time it takes to get an appointment with a GP are all priorities for improvement for Londoners. Additionally, Londoners are also more critical of quality of clinical care than patients nationally, which may be linked with heavier usage levels.

Although a third (36%) of residents are in favour of more health services delivered closer to home, these residents are also more likely to be dissatisfied with current services. This suggests that future community services would need to provide perceived improvements in waiting times, cleanliness and quality of care, in order to meet the high expectations of their local communities.

• London Residents' Attitudes to Local Health Services and Patient Choice pdf, 556KB
• Topline Results pdf, 68KB
• Framework for Action -- Healthcare For London website

Technical details

7,036 residents from the 31 NHS London PCTs were interviewed by telephone between 22nd September and 27th November 2006. All interviews were conducted by Ipsos Telephone Services