Lansley blasted for NHS dissatisfaction
Posted: 13 June 2012 by Hollie Ewers
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said 2011 was notable for ‘the biggest ever fall in public satisfaction with the NHS’.
He added: ‘It was also the right honourable gentleman’s first full year in office. Does he think these two facts are in any way related?’
Mr Burnham’s comments were made yesterday (12 June) at health secretary Andrew Lansley’s departmental question session.
He was referring to results from the British Social Attitudes Survey, which indicated that public satisfaction with the NHS fell from 70% to 58% last year. It was the largest annual drop since the survey started in 1983.
Mr Lansley refuted the suggestion but agreed that he too wasn’t satisfied.
He said: ‘We were in the midst of reform. We are changing the way the NHS is run… we were one of those on this side of the house, who were demonstrating to the public that improvement is necessary and possible in the NHS. We should not be satisfied.’
He also added that more recent research indicated that ‘unprecedentedly high’ levels of patients reported that they were satisfied with the care they had received.
Mr Burnham further claimed that statistics were being manipulated with managers changing clinical criteria and removing people from [waiting] lists.
He demanded an immediate inquiry into the ‘unacceptable practice’.
