Responding to a British Social Attitudes survey which finds public satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest ever level [1], co-leader of the Green Party, Adrian Ramsay, said:
The high levels of dissatisfaction with the NHS are a direct result of the Conservatives deliberately running down health services and using this as grounds for privatisation. I hear all the time from people struggling to get an appointment with their GP; unable to see an NHS dentist, while overstretched wards mean people are left in corridors and staff are overwhelmed.
“Yet it is very clear that people overwhelmingly want the NHS to remain free at the point of use and available to all. They don’t share the Conservative or Labour appetite for creeping privatisation.
“The public also unequivocally backs the NHS being funded by tax, with almost half believing taxes should rise so more can be spent on health services.
“The Green Party has never had any truck with the profit motive in health care and believes in a fully publicly funded NHS. We can find the billions the NHS desperately needs to improve its services and to pay health workers properly. A tax on the super-rich billionaires and multi-millionaires can provide the funds needed to fix the NHS and so rekindle our love affair with our most cherished public service.”
Notes
[1] Public satisfaction with the NHS and social care in 2023 | Nuffield Trust