Varying views on NHS provision of care by generation
25 February 2015
- 50% of those born during or before the second world war prefer NHS provision, compared to 32% of those born after 1980
- Just 32% of the same group do not have a preference about who delivers their care, compared to 49% of those born after 1980
In our joint report with NatCen Social Research on the British Social Attitudes Survey 2014 we looked at the extent to which people’s attitudes vary by age.
There is a marked difference between the generations about where people would prefer to receive treatment. Each generation is less committed than the previous one to the idea that the NHS provides the care that it funds. Likewise, each generation is more likely to be more indifferent to who provides their care than the previous one. This ordering quite clear: 50% of the ‘war and before’ generation prefer NHS provision, but this drops to 40% for baby boomers, 38% for generation X and 32% for generation Y.
In future surveys it will be interesting to see how – if at all – the views of the younger generations change as they age.
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