It’s no secret that public satisfaction with the NHS is continuing to decline. But why are satisfaction levels so low? What plans are in place to make improvements? And what does this mean for qualitative research in healthcare? Since 1983, NatCen Social Research’s British Social Attitudes survey has asked members of the public in England, Scotland and Wales about their views on the NHS and health and care issues generally. The latest survey, carried out between July and October 2018, asked 2,926 people about their overall satisfaction with the NHS and 973 people about their satisfaction with individual NHS and social care services. We take a look at the results and also compare the findings with the Care Quality Commission’s Inpatient Survey, which looks at the satisfaction of patients discharged from an NHS acute hospital, to see if there are any similarities and trends;

 NHS England leads the National Health Service in England. It’s an independent body whose main role is to set the priorities and direction of the NHS, whilst at the same time improving health and care across England. NHS England was created in 2013 as part of sweeping reforms aimed at improving services by increasing competition, cutting red tape and keeping the government out of the day-to-day running of the NHS.