Public perceptions of health and social care: expectations tracker The expectations tracker, produced in partnership with Ipsos, will monitor changing public perceptions of the standards of NHS and social care services

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS and social care services remain under severe pressure. The continued industrial action has further stretched the health and social care sector, still dealing with the elective care backlog. Previous surveys and other evidence suggested the public were more optimistic about health and care services at the start of the pandemic, but that expectations become more pessimistic in 2021. In the context of rising demand, capacity constraints and tackling backlogs, understanding how public expectations are changing is important.

Our expectations tracker, updated every 6 months as part of our 2-year programme of UK-wide public polling delivered in partnership with Ipsos, will monitor changing public perceptions of the standards of NHS and social care services:  

• over the past 12 months   

• over the next 12 months.

To understand what may be driving expectations of the NHS, our tracker asks about aspects of NHS performance that are particularly important to the public: quality of care; access to care; and staffing.

NHS

The public tends to think that the standard of care provided by the NHS has got worse over the past 12 months (66%).

The public is more optimistic about how the standard of care may change over the next 12 compared with November 2022, although overall they remain negative and are more likely to think the standard of care will get worse (54%) rather than get better (11%).

The public thinks most aspects of the NHS have got worse in the past 12 months and will continue to get worse in the year ahead. The areas that the public are most likely to think have deteriorated are the pressure on or workload of NHS staff (80%), waiting times for routine services (76 %) and the wellbeing of NHS staff (74%). Looking towards the next 12 months, the public is most likely to think the pressure on or workload of NHS staff (68%), waiting times for routine services (64%) and waiting times for A&E will get worse (63%).

Social care

The public are also generally pessimistic about the standard of social care, and very few think that services have got better over the last year (59%) or will get better over the next year (52%). However, they are less pessimistic than in November 2022.

Overall health and wellbeing

People are negative about the overall level of health and wellbeing among the public over the past year. Nearly two thirds (64%) think it has got worse and half (50%) think it will continue to get worse in the next year.