Patients continue to struggle with NHS admin
New Ipsos polling for the King’s Fund, National Voices and Healthwatch England has again explored people’s experiences of NHS admin, and the impact of that on their views of the NHS. Read more in the King’s Fund, National Voices and Healthwatch England long read, Still Lost in the System.
The public is less likely to think NHS communications are good than in 2024. Just two in five (43%) think the NHS is good at communicating with patients about things like appointments and test results (down from 52% in 2025). Just one in three think the NHS is good at ensuring there is someone for patients to contact about their ongoing care (32%) or at keeping people informed about what is happening with their care and treatment (32%) down from 43% and 42% respectively in 2024.
Two in three patients (66%) have experienced at least one NHS admin problem in the last year (for themselves or someone they care for), showing no significant improvement since 2024 (64%). Most commonly this is not been kept updated about how long they would have to wait for care or treatment and having had to chase for their results.
Among people who have experienced one of these issues, the impact on perceptions of the NHS remain stable. The most common impact of the experience continues to be making them think that NHS money is being wasted (60%), that their time is being wasted (57%) and that NHS staff time is being wasted (57%). It also impacts on patients’ likelihood to seek care, with 44% saying it made them give up on seeking care or treatment for their condition on that occasion and 41% that it made them less likely to seek care in the future.
Technical information
1,908 English adults aged 18-75 were asked (online) by Ipsos about how good or poor the NHS was at communicating on a range of things like appointments and test results. The research was carried out between 12 - 18 December 2025. Quotas were set by age within gender, region and working status. Data are weighted by age within gender, region, working status, social grade and education to match the profile of the population.
