Public perceptions of health and social care (May–June 2022) The second wave of results from our programme of UK-wide public polling delivered in partnership with Ipsos
September 2022
Key points
- This slide deck presents the findings from the second wave of our programme of polling conducted between 26 May and 1 June 2022, with a total of 2,068 responses from people aged 16 and older across the UK.
- The results show:
- The public remain fairly negative about the standard of care in the NHS and social care, although there are some tentative signs of green shoots.
- Opinions of the service the NHS is providing nationally and locally remain fairly divided, though the public retain their belief in the NHS ‘project’.
- Opinions of the service that local social care services are providing are fairly negative, although many do not give an opinion – understanding of, and preparation for, social care is limited.
- The public broadly support the new Health and Social Care Levy and social care spending cap, though they tend to think more funding will be needed for the NHS.
- The public support many of the approaches suggested to managing the backlog, and prioritise treating patients who require care urgently as opposed to those who have waited the longest.
- Similarly, the public support many of the approaches suggested to addressing NHS staff shortages, particularly those focused on directly increasing numbers of staff.
- The public support the NHS’ aim to achieve net zero, though see less of a role for the health service in reducing its impact on climate change than previously.
- Nearly all of the public are concerned about increases to the cost of living, and these concerns are linked to health to some extent.
- The public tend towards thinking the government should focus on preventing ill health above treating illnesses, but only a minority believe the government is effectively addressing key public health risks.
- The public remains divided in their views of how well the government has handled the COVID-19 pandemic, though they are generally not concerned about the move to ‘living with COVID-19'.
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 second wave of our programme of polling.
Our new analysis report covers public perceptions of health policy and performance in five areas: the NHS, social care, NHS and social care funding, public health, and the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic; and shares the implications of our findings for national policy.
About the survey
The survey was conducted between 26 May and 1 June 2022, with a total of 2,068 responses from people aged 16+ across the UK, via the Ipsos UK KnowledgePanel, a random probability online panel. The sample was stratified by nation and education and delivered a response rate of 57%. 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.
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