Public perceptions of health and social care (May 2023) The fourth wave of results from our programme of UK-wide public polling delivered in partnership with Ipsos
September 2023
Key points
- This slide deck presents the findings from the fourth wave of our programme of polling conducted between 5 and 10 May 2023, with a total of 2,450 responses from people aged 16 and older across the UK.
The results show:
-
The public continue to remain negative about the standard of care in the NHS and social care, although they are slightly more optimistic about future standards in the NHS than in November 2022.
-
Negative views towards national and local NHS services have remained stable from November 2022, and the public continue to prioritise the same things for the NHS.
-
While the public generally think the NHS is crucial to British society, the public are less likely to think this than in May 2022.
-
The public are generally negative towards social care services, yet there is no clear consensus on what should be prioritised
-
The public are divided as to whether they would pay for private health insurance or private healthcare; they generally do not see the NHS reducing its impact on climate change as a priority
-
There continues to be strong support from the public for an increase in funding for the NHS; the public generally think the UK government spends less on healthcare than other countries
-
The public generally do not think the government has the right policies in place to address public health
The Health Foundation has partnered with Ipsos to deliver a 2-year programme of research into public perceptions and expectations of health and social care. 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 work on this topic.
This slide deck presents the findings based on the third wave of our programme of polling.
Our new long read presents our analysis of the polling findings amid growing debate about the future of the health service and whether fundamental reform is needed.
About the survey
Our latest wave surveyed a representative sample of 2,450 UK adults aged 16 and over between 5–10 May 2023 online via the Ipsos UK KnowledgePanel. The sample was stratified by nation and education and delivered a response rate of 56%. A weighting spec was applied to the data in line with the target sample profile; this included one which corrected for unequal probabilities of selection of household members (to account for two members who may have been selected from one household), and weights for region, an interlocked variable of Gender by Age, Education, Ethnicity, Index of Multiple Deprivation (quintiles), and number of adults in the household.
Cite this publication
Further reading
Work with us
We look for talented and passionate individuals as everyone at the Health Foundation has an important role to play.
View current vacanciesThe Q community
Q is an initiative connecting people with improvement expertise across the UK.
Find out more
