Nurses Divided Over Improvements In The NHS - Topline Results

Q1 Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the running of the National Health Service / HPSS nowadays? Would you say you are…
  • MORI interviewed a representative sample of 1014 RCN members for the 'main survey' and 4 'sub-samples' of specialist nurses, including 100 cancer nurses, 103 working with older people, 100 in critical care and 110 in mental health.
  • The sample for the main survey was drawn from the RCN's database of members, while the interviews with the sub-samples were achieved by approaching nurses via hospital switchboards or Primary Care Trusts.
  • Fieldwork for the main survey was conducted in the UK between 10 March - 31 March 2004, while fieldwork for the sub-samples was carried out in England only, between 10 March - 7 April 2004.
  • For the main survey, quotas were set on country / region to ensure at least 100 respondents were interviewed in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
  • Results from the main survey were weighted by country / region to reflect the known profile of RCN members
  • For the sub-samples, quotas were set on region and grade, to reflect the profile of nurses generally. Also, quotas were set on type of Trust. Results from the mental health nurses have been weighted to reflect the known profile of mental health nurses (from the DoH 2002 Workforce Census)
  • All questions are based on all respondents unless otherwise stated
  • Where percentages do not add up to 100, this may be due to multiple responses, computer rounding or exclusion of 'Don't know/not stated' responses.
  • An asterisk (*) denotes a value of less than half a per cent, but greater than zero.

Q1 Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the running of the National Health Service / HPSS nowadays? Would you say you are...

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 % % % % %
Very satisfied 2 5 4 1 1
Quite satisfied 37 43 38 34 29
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 22 20 16 21 22
Quite dissatisfied 28 28 37 39 33
Very dissatisfied 10 4 6 5 15
Don't know 1 0 0 0 0
Satisfied 39 48 42 35 30
Dissatisfied 38 32 43 44 48

Q2 And overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the running of your local ...(in England, Scotland and Wales: Trust)...(in Northern Ireland: Health Board) nowadays? Would you say you are...

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 % % % % %
Very satisfied 6 7 8 7 6
Quite satisfied 44 55 51 41 34
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 16 17 12 27 15
Quite dissatisfied 24 16 24 23 27
Very dissatisfied 8 5 5 1 17
Don't know 2 0 0 1 1
Satisfied 50 62 59 48 40
Dissatisfied 32 21 29 24 44

Q3 Thinking about the NHS / HPSS over the next few years, do you expect it to...

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 % % % % %
Get much better 3 4 4 6 2
Get better 31 33 36 25 33
Stay about the same 32 28 28 41 41
Get worse 28 26 27 23 18
Get much worse 3 7 5 5 3
Don't know 3 2 0 0 3
Get better 35 37 40 31 35
Get worse 31 33 32 28 22

Q4 Would you say that the amount of investment in the health service in general over the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little?

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 % % % % %
Increased a lot 15 24 21 22 14
Increased a little 43 44 38 42 40
Stayed the same 27 20 26 22 22
Decreased a little 6 8 9 6 6
Decreased a lot 4 3 1 5 13
Don't know 4 1 5 3 4
Combinations
Increased a lot/a little 59 68 59 64 54
Decreased a lot/a little 10 11 10 11 19

Q5 Would you say that the amount of investment in your clinical area in the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little? Base: All in sub-sample survey working in specialist areas

160 Cancer Older People Critical Care Mental Health
160 (100) (104) (100) (110)
160 % % % %
Increased a lot 49 11 23 10
Increased a little 39 36 39 38
Stayed the same 25 37 29 25
Decreased a little 0 10 3 16
Decreased a lot 0 7 2 8
Don't know 2 0 4 3
Combinations
Increased a lot/a little 88 47 62 48
Decreased a lot/a little 0 17 5 24

Q6 And would you say that the amount of investment in your clinical areas of nursing in the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little? Base: All in main survey not working in one of the specified areas at Q3

160 Main
160 (504)
160 %
Increased a lot 11
Increased a little 31
Stayed the same 38
Decreased a little 10
Decreased a lot 5
Don't know 6
Combinations
Increased a lot/a little 41
Decreased a lot/a little 15

Q7 And now taking some specific areas, would you say that the amount of investment in the following areas in your place of work over the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little? Base: All nurses in main survey

160 Main
160 Increased a lot Increased a little Stayed the same Decreased a little Decreased a lot Don't know
160 % % % % % %
New treatments 12 43 34 2 1 9
New equipment 13 37 37 6 3 4
Permanent nursing staff 7 23 34 20 14 3
Permanent medical staff 3 19 51 14 4 9
Other permanent clinical staff (not doctors or nurses) 4 19 52 160 3 10
Administrative support 12 22 45 10 3 8
Reducing waiting times 14 31 22 13 3 17
Managerial staff 24 28 36 5 1 5
Upgrading facilities/New facilities 18 37 32 6 3 4
Reducing Trust overspend 10 23 31 12 4 21
Agency/Temporary staff 28 19 19 13 6 14

Q8 And now taking some specific areas, would you say that the amount of investment in the following areas in your place of work over the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little? Base: All nurses working in cancer from sub-sample survey

160 Cancer
160 Increased a lot Increased a little Stayed the same Decreased a little Decreased a lot Don't know
160 % % % % % %
New treatments 35 44 16 0 0 5
New equipment 19 36 40 3 0 2
Permanent nursing staff 8 31 35 11 13 2
Permanent medical staff 5 23 46 8 5 13
Other permanent clinical staff (not doctors or nurses) 5 20 51 11 5 8
Administrative support 10 16 52 13 2 7
Reducing waiting times 18 38 17 12 4 11
Managerial staff 31 25 33 3 1 7
Upgrading facilities/New facilities 31 27 38 1 2 1
Reducing Trust overspend 14 26 25 7 4 24
Agency/Temporary staff 24 20 21 9 11 15

Q9 And now taking some specific areas, would you say that the amount of investment in the following areas in your place of work over the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little Base: All nurses working with older people from sub-sample survey

160 Older
160 Increased a lot Increased a little Stayed the same Decreased a little Decreased a lot Don't know
160 % % % % % %
New treatments 14 48 25 0 2 12
New equipment 12 42 33 8 3 3
Permanent nursing staff 3 22 41 23 9 2
Permanent medical staff 4 17 50 16 3 11
Other permanent clinical staff (not doctors or nurses) 5 24 48 11 6 7
Administrative support 18 25 40 9 5 3
Reducing waiting times 20 25 23 12 2 17
Managerial staff 30 29 29 8 1 3
Upgrading facilities/New facilities 17 40 31 8 5 0
Reducing Trust overspend 10 23 35 12 5 16
Agency/Temporary staff 24 20 25 11 7 13

Q10 And now taking some specific areas, would you say that the amount of investment in the following areas in your place of work over the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little? Base: All nurses working in critical care from sub-sample survey

160 Critical Care
160 Increased a lot Increased a little Stayed the same Decreased a little Decreased a lot Don't know
160 % % % % % %
New treatments 16 44 34 1 0 5
New equipment 23 49 22 2 2 2
Permanent nursing staff 13 28 37 15 6 1
Permanent medical staff 5 29 45 9 2 10
Other permanent clinical staff (not doctors or nurses) 5 24 46 10 1 14
Administrative support 10 30 39 11 1 9
Reducing waiting times 17 27 17 12 1 26
Managerial staff 28 33 31 4 0 4
Upgrading facilities/New facilities 27 36 28 5 1 3
Reducing Trust overspend 16 25 24 9 3 23
Agency/Temporary staff 27 17 24 15 12 5

Q11 And now taking some specific areas, would you say that the amount of investment in the following areas in your place of work over the last four years or so has increased, decreased or stayed the same? Would you say a lot or a little? Base: All nurses working in mental health from sub-sample survey

160 Mental Health
160 Increased a lot Increased a little Stayed the same Decreased a little Decreased a lot Don't know
160 % % % % % %
New treatments 13 43 40 2 0 2
New equipment 5 29 54 5 4 3
Permanent nursing staff 2 27 32 30 9 0
Permanent medical staff 6 14 55 13 5 6
Other permanent clinical staff (not doctors or nurses) 4 20 45 21 7 4
Administrative support 10 22 51 10 5 2
Reducing waiting times 9 15 35 11 0 30
Managerial staff 26 31 35 5 2 0
Upgrading facilities/New facilities 13 33 35 10 7 2
Reducing Trust overspend 10 20 30 12 4 24
Agency/Temporary staff 25 30 26 11 3 6

Q12 And of these areas, where, if at all do you believe investment would be best spent?

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 % % % % %
New treatments 24 22 15 17 23
New equipment 34 32 32 30 18
Permanent nursing staff 75 80 83 78 78
Permanent medical staff 39 43 32 40 35
Other permanent clinical staff (not doctors or nurses) 24 20 24 13 26
Administrative support 10 13 8 4 6
Reducing waiting times 21 14 10 13 6
Managerial staff 3 2 1 1 4
Upgrading facilities/New facilities 28 25 20 26 28
Reducing Trust overspend 14 10 9 7 8
Agency/Temporary staff 5 9 5 4 1
Other* 6 2 3 1 4
Don't know 2 3 2 3 0

* Please note that full listings of others are available for the sub-samples in the tables

Q13 How involved, if at all, have you personally been in making decisions about where increased investment has been spent? Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all? Base: all who say investment in their clinical areas of nursing has increased*

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 (492) (88 ) (48 ) (62 ) (53 )
160 % % % % %
A great deal 3 2 2 2 8
A fair amount 16 16 15 18 13
Not very much 30 33 46 27 32
Not at all 50 49 35 53 47
Don't know 1 0 2 0 0
Combinations
A great deal/a fair amount 19 18 17 19 20
Not very much/not at all 80 82 81 81 80

* Please note small bases of less than 100 for the sub-samples -- data less reliable

Q14 And how involved would you personally have liked to have been? Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all? Base: all who say investment in their clinical areas of nursing has increased

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 (492) (88 ) (48 ) (62 ) (53 )
160 % % % % %
A great deal 15 16 19 5 18
A fair amount 57 64 67 71 54
Not very much 15 16 10 16 18
Not at all 12 5 4 6 10
Don't know 1 0 0 2 0
Combinations
A great deal/a fair amount 73 80 85 76 73
Not very much/not at all 27 20 15 23 27

*Please note small bases of less than 100 for the sub-samples -- data less reliable

Q15 To what extent would you agree or disagree that patients' experiences in the NHS / HPSS over the past four years or so have improved? Would you say you...

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 % % % % %
Strongly agree 9 6 12 14 14
Tend to agree 41 57 38 40 37
Neither agree nor disagree 20 22 21 21 19
Tend to disagree 20 8 23 15 20
Strongly disagree 8 6 5 8 8
Don't know 2 1 1 2 1
Combinations
Strongly/tend to agree 50 63 50 54 52
Tend to disagree/strongly disagree 27 14 28 23 28

Q16 What would you say have been the top three improvements, if any, for patients in the NHS / HPSS over the past four years or so?

160 Main Cancer Older Critical Care Mental Health
160 % % % % %
Improved care 26 28 31 24 39
Improved treatments 21 35 18 21 31
Improved facilities (cleaner, better facilities) 18 19 21 17 25
Reduced waiting times 41 51 39 41 23
More clinical staff 6 6 9 7 6
More equipment 7 3 10 8 2
Better communication / interaction between nurses and patients 3 5 4 3 1
Patient involvement/Patient's Charter 8 10 3 7 11
Better/more informed patients 4 15 1 5 3
Quicker access to healthcare professionals 3 3 3 1 5
Complaints procedure -- patients are encouraged to complain 1 1 0 0 0
Improved cancer care / facilities 1 5 0 0 0
Cancer waiting list reduced 1 1 0

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