What price the NHS?

The NHS needs to find a way of being financially sustainable without seeing the funding increases of the first part of this century. The public recognise there is a challenge; nine in ten people say the NHS will indeed face a severe funding problem in the future. But this does not necessarily lead them to recognise that services need to be provided differently, with two-thirds thinking the NHS should be given more funding so that it can continue to provide services in the same way it does at the moment. There are signs that the message is starting to filter through to the public, however, and when asking about specific ways of reducing costs and providing services differently, some are supported. For example, requiring people who go to Accident and Emergency when they could be treated somewhere else to go to a different health service instead, or receiving blood tests in the community, closer to their homes.

•     Download the data slides (PDF) •     Download the data tables (PDF)

Technical details • The Foundation Trust Network (FTN) commissioned Ipsos to survey 1,244 English adults aged 15 and over. • Respondents were interviewed face-to-face between 27 September and 7 October 2013. • Data are weighted to reflect the population profile in England.