Public opinion

Our work on the public's opinion on NHS and social care issues

Three graph lines plotted on a chart

Public satisfaction with the NHS and social care in 2021: Results from the British Social Attitudes survey

Overall satisfaction with the NHS fell to 36 per cent – an unprecedented 17 percentage point decrease on 2020.

Why can't I get a doctor's appointment? Solving the complex issue of GP access

Public satisfaction with general practice is lower now than it has ever been, while the number of people reporting difficulties in booking appointments continues to grow. We run through the proposed solutions to issues around GP access and consider their potential effectiveness.

The public and the NHS: what's the deal?

In March 2018 The King’s Fund and Ipsos MORI carried out a series of discussion events with the public to explore people's views on the relationship between the public and the NHS. This report sets out the findings.

Completed project

The public and the NHS

The relationship between the NHS and the public is complex. Although surveys show us that people are proud of the NHS and most are satisfied with the services they receive, it’s sometimes said that public expectations of the NHS are rising. Against this background we have been undertaking work to explore the relationship between the public and our national health service.

Patient experience: Our work on patients' experience of using health and care services

Performance: Our work on performance against NHS targets and the ways in which success is measured