Majority of Brits say fixing broken NHS should be top of PM’s priorities, poll shows

Exclusive:

Almost two-thirds (64%) of people put fixing the health service in their top three priorities – ahead of money worries, immigration and cutting crime, according to an exclusive poll

The majority of British families say fixing the country’s broken NHS should be top of Keir Starmer’s list of priorities, according to an exclusive poll for the Mirror.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of people put fixing the health service in their top three priorities – ahead of money worries, immigration and cutting crime. Some 54% put controlling the cost of living in their top priorities, which was also some way ahead of the 34% who selected reducing immigration and the 33% who chose growing the economy.

After this, only a fifth (20%) of people put cutting crime in their most important priorities, while 12% put helping the environment and tackling climate change. Some 9% thought rejoining the EU was a top priority, while 8% respectively said improving education standards and increasing defence spending was.

Unions representing NHS staff and health experts said it was “no surprise” the public wants action to fix the health service after years of “shameful neglect” under the Tories. They warned ministers they must “heed the message” from people across the country and put the NHS at the forefront of its thinking in 2025.

The NHS is currently being hit by a “tidal wave of flu” as winter bugs hit the health service over the festive period. More than one in 10 patients waited longer than 12 hours for treatment in A&E in November – and experts have warned the dangerous waits could cause more than 14,000 deaths this year. And more than 7.5million people are still languishing on the NHS backlog waiting for hospital procedures or appointments.

Overworked doctors and nurses are continuing to leave the profession in their droves as they struggle with poor pay and working conditions. At the start of the month NHS workers responded with fury after ministers proposed a 2.8% pay rise. Nurses said the “offensive” pay rise was worth as little as £2 extra a day – “less than the price of a coffee” – while Unison warned waves of strikes in the NHS could return again next year.

Meanwhile the Tories’ plans to build 40 new hospitals have been delayed with patients left to be treated in crumbling, dilapidated buildings.

Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “It’s no surprise the public are right behind rescuing the NHS from the crisis it’s faced for years. Our health service and the workers that keep it running are there for us and our families when we need them the most.”

But she warned that the health service is currently “in the midst of a terrible winter crisis” and told ministers their plans to fix the NHS must come with addressing workforce challenges, including “staffing shortages linked to retention issues and sickness due to burnout”.

Professor Nicola Ranger, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary and chief executive, said health workers “know only too well of the pressures facing services and will be heartened to hear the public have their support and share their concerns”.

She continued: “Today ambulances are dropping patients at the front door of hospitals when the beds are full and there is no social care to take the strain. Patients are routinely being treated in corridors as staff are regularly being forced to comprise care just to make room.

“As we head towards the new year those in government would do well to heed the message from the public and invest in the nursing workforce so those on the front line can give patients the treatment they deserve.”

Rory Deighton, director of the acute network at the NHS Confederation, said the polling shows that the public “is acutely aware of the immense pressure facing the NHS”. He went on: “October saw record demand in A&E departments, and as winter sets in, the flu surge is only adding to the strain on an already stretched system.

“To respond to public concerns and ensure the NHS is properly supported next winter and beyond, the government’s ten-year plan must address the root causes of this pressure.

“Key to this is investing in social care, not only to free up hospital beds but also to shift more care closer to people’s homes. With rising demand and increasingly complex cases, social care can help ease the burden on hospitals and improve patient flow.”

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat health and social care spokeswoman, said: “It should come as no surprise that the public are demanding action on our NHS after years of the previous Conservative government’s shameful neglect. The new government should listen to the public and realise that rescuing our health service is the greatest challenge facing this country and make it their driving focus.”

She also emphasised that the Labour government must start with “recognising that you cannot fix the NHS without fixing social care”, adding: “Until that happens we will continue to see sky-high waiting lists and patients going through unnecessary misery.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting last weekend admitted he felt a “combination of pride and shame” when he visited A&Es and saw heroic staff working hard but at the same time elderly people waiting for sometimes 30 hours on a trolley in a corridor.

The Cabinet minister has declared the NHS “broken but not beaten” and has been clear about the challenges ahead for the health service. Speaking to the Mirror on Thursday night, Mr Streeting said: “We share the immense pride and value that the British public feels towards the NHS, which is why fixing the NHS is a key mission within our Plan for Change.

“That’s why we’re focused on slashing huge waiting lists we have inherited so people can be seen faster and through our 10-Year-Plan we will make the crucial reforms to make our healthcare service work better for everyone. We have already made progress, and are backing wider improvements in the NHS with a record £22billion investment in day to day spending, with a further £3billion capital spending which will include hospital repairs and new equipment.”

The government’s 10-year health plan will be published in Spring 2025 and will be underlined by three big shifts in healthcare – hospital to community, analogue to digital and sickness to prevention.

In Labour’s October Budget the government announced a £22.6billion boost to day-to-day spending for NHS England and £3.1billion to spend on capital projects like buildings. It was the largest increase since 2010, outside of the Covid pandemic. The cash will be used to fund 40,000 elective appointments per week.

And in the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change speech at the start of the month, Mr Starmer set a target for 92% of patients to wait no longer than 18 weeks from being referred to starting treatment for non-urgent health conditions. The NHS already has this target but it hasn’t been met for years.

Ministers said they want to harness the power of technology, including the use of the NHS App, to “transform patients’ experience of care” and help deliver the milestone.

The public are invited to submit ideas on improving the health service on the Change NHS online platform. More than 10,000 suggestions have already been made about the future of the NHS.

::: Deltapoll interviewed 1,552 British adults online between December 19 to 23. The data have been weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole.