Who is to blame? In the hailstorm of bad NHS news, the government and its press outriders are trying, with some success, to shift guilt on to the NHS itself. The public is no longer clapping, they say, with only 36% of voters telling the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey that they are satisfied with the NHS. That figure should frighten any government – unless people are persuaded to blame the NHS instead of its political masters. Look at the groundswell of rightwing commentary blaming “lazy” GPs and “overpaid bureaucrats”, with articles headlined “The public have lost faith in our NHS religion” (Daily Telegraph) and “Are we falling out of love with the NHS?” (Spectator). Will this strategy of shifting the blame work? Probably not.
The last time public approval fell so low was in 1997, when Tony Blair’s “24 hours to save the NHS” helped turf out a Tory government after years of underfunding. In the BSA survey, the three top reasons for dissatisfaction given were long waits, NHS staff shortages and inadequate government funding – not the treatment itself.
