Patients Association survey reveals “significant challenges” in public healthcare access
A survey commissioned by the Patients Association has revealed significant challenges in accessing care, reinforcing the charity’s calls to fix the crisis in healthcare and improve patients’ access to the services they need to live well.
Three out of 10 people have struggled to access GP appointments in the past six months. Only 13 per cent said there were no NHS services they had struggled to access; and around one in four respondents who have needed to access care in the last six months disagreed that they have been able to access the services they need in the past six months.
Just over three out of 10 want full ownership of and easy access to all their medical information.
Commenting on the results, Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association said: “These survey results show how a broken NHS is damaging the relationship patients have with the services they need.
“It is critical that the new Government halts and reverses the decline in the NHS. Patients deserve far better than they’re getting now. So we call on the new Government and the NHS to work in partnership with patients to reverse this decline and deliver the care people need to live well.”
Other findings from the survey of 1,210 respondents reveal that a quarter of respondents agreed they had been given the opportunity to choose an alternative location for hospital care. Two fifths agreed their care had been well coordinated.
A little less than half agreed they had been kept informed about what was happening with their care and almost a fifth disagreed they had.
Rachel Power said: “The survey’s findings strongly support the Patients Association’s manifesto demands especially for our call that the new Government introduce a health-in-all government policies approach to health, which was backed by seven out of 10 respondents to the survey.
“We also see how desperate patients are for the new Government to reverse the normalisation of the crisis in health and care. Patients want more spent on the NHS to improve their access to and experience of care.”
Earlier this month, England’s largest councils called for a delay in the introduction of the cap on adult social care costs, warning they will be ‘impossible’ to implement by October next year, according to new analysis by the County Councils Network.
