Britain ready to support reforms of 'money pit' NHS

Polling for The National shows many are open to private involvement in health care

A survey showed 47 per cent of UK adults believe the NHS is 'not working' and requires significant reform. PA

Many among the British public are ready to embrace reforms to the National Health Service amid fears it has become a “monstrous money pit”, polling for The National has found.

An exclusive Deltapoll survey showed 47 per cent of UK adults believe the NHS is “not working” and that “significant reform” is needed.

Another 40 per cent would support “some reforms”, with only eight per cent saying the NHS’s operations “should not change”.

The poll showed that 48 per cent would support a “greater role for private healthcare providers” if it helped reduce pressure on services, with 31 per cent opposed.

The state of the NHS is invariably a top voter priority, and the poll makes grim reading for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. As an election year looms, 65 per cent of adults are unhappy with the government’s handling of the health service.

Voters are also dissatisfied with Mr Sunak’s record on immigration, the economy, crime, Brexit and the cost of living, the wide-ranging poll revealed. He scored better marks on international relations and the war in Ukraine.

Speaking at The National’s poll launch, Deltapoll’s co-founder Martin Boon said dissatisfaction with the NHS was threatening its place as a “national institution” and the “pride and joy” of Britain.

Founded in 1948 under the principle of “free at the point of delivery”, the NHS was celebrated in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and any suggestion of reform is politically dicey.

However, the public “are recognising now that the NHS has become a monstrous money pit, a huge beast which is probably unaffordable,” said Mr Boon.

“The view of the NHS is changing. That’s probably been the case for four or five years as people now have come to agree that we can’t keep simply throwing money at the NHS and seeing it swallowed in wages and salaries without seeing improvements in primary care facilities.”

A tribute to the NHS was part of a kaleidoscopic opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. Getty

UK spending on health care hit £283 billion ($345.3 billion) last year. The National has revealed how many patients have turned to private hospitals because of long NHS waiting lists. The delays have been compounded by strikes among junior doctors, consultants, nurses and ambulance staff.

The NHS sometimes turns to private providers itself, meaning treatment remains free for patients. Any move towards bringing in charges for patients would be sure to set off a political storm.

“Absorbing private care into NHS delivery is now something people recognise. It’s being done already,” Mr Boon said. “I think people just want to see outcomes, positive outcomes.”

The NHS through the decades – in pictures

The first babies born on July 5, 1948, the day the NHS was launched in the UK. Getty Images

People take part in a doorstep survey about the need for a National Health Service in 1944. Getty Images

The sorting of ballot papers in the British Medical Association to ascertain doctors' views on joining the National Health Service scheme, in April 1948. Getty Images

Minister for health Aneurin Bevan watches a demonstration of a new stretcher in Preston, on the first day of the new National Health Service. Getty Images

Mr Bevan's visit to Park Hospital, Manchester, now named Trafford General Hospital, on July 5, 1948. PA

Nurses of Whipps Cross Hospital, in London, singing Christmas carols to one of the patients in bed in 1952. Getty Images

NHS patients queuing in the rain outside a mobile X-ray unit parked in a street in New Cross, London in 1954. Getty Images

Some of the 8,000 nurses attending a protest meeting at Trafalgar Square, London, in support of their pay claim in 1952. Getty Images

A nurse in the operating theatre of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, in 1968. Getty Images

Nurses demonstrating outside the Ministry of Health, London, in 1974. Getty Images

Demonstrators protesting in London against proposed NHS funding cuts in 1984. Getty Images

A busy Friday night in the A&E section of the Royal London Hospital in 1998. Getty Images

Unison members protest in front of the British Parliament to protest against conditions which will turn the NHS into a two-tier system in 2003. Getty Images

Work during the construction of Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in 2007. Getty Images

Performers dance in a scene in tribute of the NHS during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Getty Images

NHS workers take part in an anti-austerity protest during the first day of the 2015 Conservative Party Autumn Conference in Manchester. Getty Images

Doctors treat a baby, receiving light therapy, inside an incubator in the Birmingham Women's Hospital in 2015. Getty Images

Nurses in uniforms from each decade of the NHS celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS in 2018. Getty Images

A nurse enters the Covid-19 Red Zone at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Wales in 2020. Getty Images

NHS staff applaud at the entrance of the Royal Liverpool Hospital as part of the "Clap For Our Carers" campaign in April 2020. Getty Images

A nurse takes a swab at a Covid-19 drive-through testing station for NHS staff in Chessington in 2020. Getty Images

A sign of support for the NHS during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 in Glasgow. Getty Images

Domestic caretaker Jim Johnson outside Blackpool Victoria Hospital during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Getty Images

NHS staff members gather outside the University Hospital of North Tees to show their respects and applaud Captain Sir Tom Moore. Getty Images

NHS staff and key workers queue in the Louisa Jordan Hospital before receiving the coronavirus vaccine in 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. Getty Images

NHS staff administer the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 in St Helens. Getty Images

An ambulance paramedic speaks as NHS workers and supporters gather outside Downing Street during strike action in 2022. Getty Images

Demonstrators, holding placards and banners, during a strike by NHS nursing staff outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London, in 2022. Getty Images

Ambulance workers on a picket line during strike action at Chorley Ambulance Station in 2023. Bloomberg

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is given a demonstration of CPR while visiting the NHS's Addenbrooke's Hospital in 2023. Getty Images

Older people who most rely on the NHS are almost unanimous that it needs improvement. Among those aged over 65, the poll found 96 per cent would back some changes, including 58 per cent who would support significant reform.

The opposition Labour Party regards the postwar creation of the NHS as one of its proudest achievements, but 40 per cent of its supporters would now back significant change, the poll found.

With the Conservatives deep underwater in the polls, Mr Sunak has made cutting NHS waiting lists one of his five pre-election priorities. The poll shows that even 60 per cent of Tory voters are unhappy with the government’s record on health care.

Deltapoll interviewed 2,039 British adults between September 11 and 15.