'We continue to appreciate what health workers do for us'

MP for Ellesmere Port

I TRUST that many of you were able to enjoy time with family and friends over the Easter break.

I hope especially that you did not feel the need to make use of the National Health Service over the weekend.

Many NHS workers do not get time off during bank holidays. The need to care for patients, including those in Accident and Emergency departments, is a round-the-clock, every day of the year occupation.

We continue to appreciate what health workers do for us, and the expertise they show as they care for us, but the depressing fact is that less than one in four people (24 per cent) are satisfied with the NHS, according to just published results of the long-running British Social Attitudes survey based on 2023 findings.

That is five percentage points down on last year – and a massive drop from the 70 per cent recorded in the last year of the Labour government in 2010 when the satisfaction rate was 70 per cent.

The poll – the gold-standard measure of the public's view of the health service – has been running since 1983. More than 3,000 people were polled by the National Centre for Social Research across England, Wales and Scotland in the autumn. The findings on the NHS, published by the Nuffield Trust and King's Fund think tanks, show once again that performance has deteriorated after a new record low was seen last year.

So for those wondering what a difference it would make to the nation to have a change of government, you will not have to think too long to imagine a situation where we work hard to reduce cancer waiting list times, which in 2023 were the worst on record; work hard to reduce 12-hour waits in A&E departments which in winter have been normalised; and work hard to achieve key NHS targets which have never been met.

Of the core services, the public was least satisfied with A&E, as previously mentioned, and with dentistry services. I know from the experiences of my constituents just how difficult it can be to get an appointment with an NHS dentist. Indeed, for those who cannot find an NHS dentist, the price of dentistry has undoubtedly become beyond the reach of too many patients.

The survey also showed satisfaction with social care had fallen to 13 per cent – again the lowest since the survey began. The major reasons for dissatisfaction in the social care sector were long waiting times, staffing shortages and lack of funding.

No-one is pretending that achieving improvements in our NHS and social care services is going to be easy.

It will require a relentless effort over the next few years, but the survey indicates clearly that the vast majority of the UK public still believes in the objectives of the NHS first established all those years ago after the Second World War.

We know without the workforce, these services are nothing, and I hope that a period of sustained support from a Labour Government we will see an end to the current exodus of healthcare staff and a return to a service we can all be proud of.