MIDLAND patients have little faith in the NHS improving and are demanding shorter A&E waiting times, better mental health and access to an NHS dentist, a new survey has revealed.
Health bosses authorised an official poll by Ipsos Mori to help them shape local services.
The Birmingham Mail can today reveal that, with the Government forced into an embarrassing, large scale re-think over its NHS reforms, key findings show:
* Only a quarter of residents believe health services will get better in years to come.
* Staff who work in the NHS are the most pessimistic about the future
* Long waits at A&E and to get a GP appointment, mental health services, access to a NHS dentist and end of life care were all in a hot list of services that needed the most improvement.
* Half of people thought there should be no limit to what is spent on the NHS
The telephone survey carried out in November and December asked 2,000 patients and residents across Birmingham, the Black Country, Solihull, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire their views on everything from what they think is going right or wrong with the NHS and how money could be better spent.
Results, compared to the same surveys carried out in 2006, 2008 and 2009, showed more people are now concerned on the impact of economic pressures on the NHS - 84 per cent of those quizzed, up from 75 per cent in 2009.
A third of residents said they expected NHS services to worsen with a further 41 per cent saying they would only stay the same.
The main reasons given for the pessimistic outlook was mainly due to less money and spending cuts along with the Government reforms shaking up the system.
Despite this, eight in every ten people felt the NHS was providing a good service and although hospital cleanliness was still a major issue for locals, it was the first time since 2008 that it did not emerge as the highest priority for improvement.
JO Lenaghan, Director of Reform at NHS West Midlands health authority, said: “These surveys give us an invaluable opportunity to explore patient and public views on health services and to ensure that developments in the NHS are informed by local people’s concerns and preferences.
“Residents’ expectations for the future of their local health services have worsened since the last survey and is similar to back in 2006 when the NHS was in financial deficit and people felt things would be getting worse.
“Satisfaction with the overall running of the NHS has increased though and this is the first time that dentistry has not appeared in the top five of the main issues.
“A perceived need for improvement of hospital cleanliness and access to a NHS dentist were both down since 2006, which suggests we have started to tackle these issues that matter the most to patients.
“But there has been an increase in the proportion of people who feel that services for supporting people with mental health problems are in need of improvement, as is the case with the length of time it takes to get an appointment with a GP, end of life services and the quality of medical treatment by GPs.”
