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Public perceptions of health and social care The Health Foundation’s programme of UK-wide public polling delivered in partnership with Ipsos

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Since 2021, The Health Foundation has partnered with Ipsos to deliver a programme of research into public perceptions and expectations of health and social care. Every 6 months, we poll a representative sample of the UK public using the UK KnowledgePanel – Ipsos’ random probability online panel – building on our previous work on this topic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major shifts in public attitudes towards health, the NHS and social care. With services still experiencing substantial pressure from the virus itself and related disruption, it’s important to understand how people perceive the current state of care and priorities for the future. 

The Health Foundation has partnered with Ipsos to deliver a programme of research into public perceptions and expectations of health and social care over the next two years. Every 6 months, we will poll a representative sample of the UK public using the UK KnowledgePanel – Ipsos’ random probability online panel – building on our previous body of polling work. 

Alongside each poll we will publish an expectations tracker, that will monitor changing public perceptions of the standards of NHS and social care services every 6 months. To understand what may be driving expectations, our tracker asks about aspects of NHS performance that are particularly important to the public: quality of care; access to care; and staffing.

Wave 9 (February 2026)

Wave 8 (May 2025)

Wave 7 (Nov 2024)

Wave 6 (May 2024)

Wave 5 (November 2023)

Wave 4 (May 2023)

NHS at 75 polling

Wave 3 (November 2022)

Wave 2 (May–June 2022)

Wave 1 (November–December 2021)

Further public polling

Climate change and health (September–October 2021)

Health and social care in light of COVID-19 (May–November 2020)

General Election (November 2019) 

NHS at 70 (June 2018)