- King's Fund and Nuffield Trust survey reveals the biggest
drop in dissatisfaction in the NHS since 1998
- Health & Social Care Secretary announces NHS Intensive
Recovery programme to worst performing trusts in England from
April
- High-performing teams with a track record of delivery will
bring in tailored support to improve care.
Patients' dissatisfaction in the NHS has fallen by its biggest
margin in nearly three decades, according to a new survey
released thanks to record investment, falling waiting lists, and
reforms.
The King's Fund and Nuffield Trust's British Social Attitudes
survey reveals a 5.6 percentage point increase in satisfaction in
the NHS, the first increase since the Covid-19 pandemic.
This reflects a significant effort by NHS leaders and staff up
and down the country to accelerate improvement over the last
year. This Government invested an extra £26 billion in the NHS
this year, cut waiting lists by 374,000 since July 2024,
recruited an extra 2,000 GPs and cut Category 2 ambulance
response times this winter to their lowest level for five years.
However, despite the significant improvement overall, some
“challenged” trusts have continued to struggle – often because of
a range of persistent and historic issues that have never been
properly addressed.
A new NHS Intensive Recovery programme has identified these
trusts as those at the bottom of the new NHS league tables,
facing the longest waits for care, persistent financial problems,
and high leadership churn.
Speaking at the University of East London on Wednesday 25 March,
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will announce how he will drive the changes needed
to get these trusts up to standard again for the benefit of all
patients.
, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,
said:
When this government came to office, I said that, while the NHS
was broken, it wasn't beaten. Patients are beginning to feel the
change and the NHS is showing that things can get better.
The biggest drop in dissatisfaction since 1998 doesn't happen by
accident. It is thanks to the government's investment and
modernisation- all of which has been hard fought but is now
delivering results.
Waiting lists are the lowest they've been in three years, more
patients in A&E are seen within four-hours than for four
years, and ambulance response times are the fastest for five
years.
The NHS is on the road to recovery, but there's a lot of road
ahead. My foot is pressing down on the accelerator and I won't
stop until the job is done.
The NHS Intensive Recovery programme will begin in April and has
identified providers where structural challenges exist. The first
wave of Trusts facing measures will include: North Cumbria
Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, Mid and South Essex NHS
Foundation Trust, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust,
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and East
Kent Hospitals NHS Trust.
This programme marks a clear shift in approach — moving away from
a one size fits all approach. This new approach will bring
decisive action to fix long-standing issues that cannot be
resolved by organisations alone.
The trusts identified are not failing through lack of effort,
leadership or the hard work of their staff. They face deep-rooted
challenges — including structural constraints and financial
imbalance.
Each organisation will receive a tailored improvement approach,
designed jointly with local leadership and focused on delivery.
This will include, changes of leadership where necessary at
struggling Trusts, NHS veterans with a history of success brought
into underperforming areas, the merging or separating Trusts so
resources can be reallocated based on need, and improving access
to capital for crumbling estates.
, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,
will say:
Right now, a cluster of high-performing Trusts are masking some
chronic under-performance in other parts of the country. Failure
has been tolerated for too long. Staff know it. Patients feel it.
And I won't stand for it.
We won't have succeeded in changing the NHS, until we change it
for the patients who are suffering the worst services in the
country.
In some places, so many years of poor service without improvement
is feeding that sense of fatalism. They believe that after so
long, it just can't get better – in fact, they've never seen it
get better.
That's why I've announced today a new Intensive Recovery
programme. This will target the worst performing providers,
sending in our best leaders or delivering the structural changes
necessary to get them back on track. No more turning a blind eye
to failure.
