The Public satisfaction with the NHS and social care in 2025 survey by The King's Fund and the Nuffield Trust reveals satisfaction rose by 6 percentage points to 26% in 2025, with dissatisfaction seeing its biggest fall in more than 25 years, with around half of respondents (51%) saying they were ‘very' or ‘quite' dissatisfied, marking a drop of 8 percentage points from 2024.

Dan Wellings, senior fellow, The King's Fund said: ‘The rise in public satisfaction will be welcome relief for an NHS that has seen satisfaction plummet in recent years. But whether this marks the start of a genuine recovery or is just brief respite remains an open question. Much will depend on how quickly the Government can improve access to care.'

Public satisfaction was divided along age and political lines, with just a fifth (20%) of people under 35 said satisfied with the way the NHS is run compared to over a third (35%) of people 65 and over.

In addition, while 68% of Labour supporters ‘definitely' agreed the NHS should be accessible to all, just 45% of Conservative supporters and 30% of Reform supporters ‘definitely' agreed.

Only around a fifth (22%) were satisfied with A&E services. When asked what the top three priorities for the NHS should be, nearly half (46%) selected both ‘making it easier to get a GP appointment' and ‘improved A&E waiting times' first.

In other findings, two-thirds (66%) of respondents said the Government was spending ‘too little' or ‘far too little' on the NHS and the public remained closely divided between raising taxes and spending more on the NHS (45%) and keeping taxation and spending at the same level (43%). Just 14% of respondents said they were satisfied with social care.

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Wes Streeting, secretary of state for health and social care, said: ‘Patients are beginning to feel the change and the NHS is showing that things can get better.'

Tim Mitchell, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: ‘For 45% of respondents, improving waiting times for planned operations remains a top priority – a clear sign patients are still waiting too long for the care they need. Tackling these delays must start with expanding surgical capacity: increasing access to operating theatres and investing in the hospital infrastructure that is required to treat more patients.'

Chris Graham, group chief executive of Picker, said: ‘The BSA results … show that public support for the founding principles of the NHS remains strong. But there are some signs of cracks developing, with support for the NHS being "accessible" to all varying by political affiliation. There are also concerns about equality and equity, with some groups - including younger people - reporting markedly lower satisfaction compared to others.' 

Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation speaking on behalf of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers (which from April will become The NHS Alliance), said: ‘These findings show the NHS has started to turn a corner. But there is a long way to go before public satisfaction levels are back to the high watermark level of the late 2000s.'

Sir James Mackey, NHS chief executive, said: ‘While I'm incredibly proud of how teams up and down the country are working hard to make sure patients get the services they want and need, there is a huge amount of work ahead of us to get the NHS back to the levels of service our public rightly expect. None of us can be complacent, but today's data shows we are on the right track.'