The Government’s emphasis on hospital waiting times is misaligned with the public, whose top priority for the NHS is GP access, new polling from a leading think tank has suggested.
For the first time in its polling series, the Health Foundation has found that ‘making it easier to get appointments at GP practices’ is now the top of the public’s priorities for the NHS.
About two-fifths of the public (38%) ranked GP access as a top priority, which is up from 34% in May 2024, before the current Labour Government was elected.
In December, Prime Minister Keir Starmer put ‘ending hospital backlogs’ as one of his six top priorities to meet over the course of this Parliament.
But according to the new public polling, only 27% of respondents rank waiting times for routine hospital treatment as a top priority, which came behind GP access, improving A&E waiting times (33%), and reducing the number of NHS staff leaving by improving working conditions (29%).
Achieving Sir Keir’s elective care goals may also come at the expense of improving primary care, where progress may be slower, the think tank warned.
The polling, conducted by Ipsos with just under 2,200 UK adults in November, also found that those intending to vote Conservative or Reform UK were more likely (at 46% and 47% respectively) to prioritise access to GP appointments than the public overall.
On the Government’s spending, the Health Foundation found that the NHS remains the UK public’s top priority for any extra spending on services by a ‘substantial margin’.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) think the NHS should be prioritised to receive more public spending in the future, ahead of social care for older people (26%) and housing (23%).
Other findings
- There was ‘strong support’ for the Government’s three strategic shifts:
- 86% support preventing sickness and not just treating it as a top priority for the Government;
- 82% support moving care from hospitals to communities;
- 73% support better use of technology.
- The majority of the public (73%) were unaware of the Government’s upcoming 10-year plan for health, despite ‘widespread publicity’;
- Once made aware, only a third (35%) are confident it will lead to improvements in the NHS.
- Across the NHS and social care, the public is less negative and more optimistic about the performance of services than under the previous government, though perceptions are still largely negative overall. Source: The Health Foundation
The Health Foundation’s director of policy Hugh Alderwick warned that their new polling shows ‘how challenging it will be to balance multiple priorities’ for improving the NHS, with ‘difficult trade-offs’ required.
On GP access, he said: ‘The public’s top priority is improving access to general practice, but the Government’s headline political pledge on the NHS is to reduce waiting times for routine hospital treatment over the parliament.
‘Making this happen will require substantial resources and may mean slower progress on improving care elsewhere, such as in primary and community care – particularly if extra investment is limited.’
In response to the new polling, the RCGP said it is ‘no surprise’ that easy access to GP appointments is the main priority among the public.
College chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: ‘GPs want this too and it’s as frustrating for us as it is for our patients when they struggle to access our care; but this is the result of years of under-funding and poor workforce planning.’
She added: ‘General practice is the bedrock of the NHS, we make up the vast majority of patient contacts and in doing so alleviate pressures across the entire health service.
‘But we can’t carry on doing more with less – without substantial investment in our service, and initiatives to recruit and retain more GPs, some patients will continue to struggle to access our care.’
The Department of Health and Social Care said the Prime Minister’s six pledges – part of the ‘plan for change’ – are ‘transforming the NHS’, with the Government already having met its pledge to deliver over two million extra appointments ‘seven months early’.
A spokesperson continued: ‘At the same time, we are fixing the front door of the NHS by hiring an extra 1,000 GPs, proposing the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889 million – and bringing back the family doctor so patients most in need see the same doctor at every appointment.’
A version of this article was originally published by our sister title Pulse
