In April 2014, Simon Stevens, the new Chief Executive of NHS England, took responsibility for this unique institution and, with it, a full inbox of challenges to address if he is to maintain public confidence and pride in the service. So what, according to the public, are the key issues he faces?

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Maintaining pride in the NHS:
The challenge for the new NHS Chief Exec

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On 1st April 2014, Simon Stevens became
the new Chief Executive of NHS England.
What, according to the
public, are the key
challenges he faces?

3. Version 1 | Public© Ipsos MORI Net satisfaction scores are calculated by subtracting the proportion of people who are dissatisfied from the proportion of people who are satisfied
How would you rate the quality of healthcare that you and your family have access to in…?
By healthcare we include doctors, specialist physicians such as surgeons, hospitals, tests for
diagnosis and drugs to treat various ailments.
Source: Ipsos MORI Global Trends SurveyBase: Adults in 19 countries (15039 overall, 1000 Great Britain) September 2013
Positively, people in Britain rate the quality of their healthcare very highly in
comparison to those in other countries…
Good Poor
76%
67%
65%
64%
63%
63%
59%
58%
57%
53%
50%
50%
47%
43%
35%
34%
26%
19%
10%
9%
18%
19%
23%
21%
21%
19%
28%
24%
30%
31%
30%
42%
46%
48%
40%
29%
31%
35%
6%
13%
13%
16%
16%
14%
22%
14%
19%
16%
19%
15%
23%
15%
19%
19%
34%
53%
60%
56%
Belgium
GB
US
Australia
Sweden
France
S Africa
India
Canada
Argentina
Spain
Germany
Total
Japan
Turkey
S Korea
Italy
Brazil
Poland
Russia

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0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Dec
2008
Mar
2009
Jun
2009
Sep
2009
Dec
2009
Mar
2010
Jun
2010
Sep
2010
Dec
2010
Mar
2011
Jun
2011
Sep
2011
Dec
2011
Mar
2012
Jun
2012
Sep
2012
Dec
2012
Mar
2013
Jun
2013
Sep
2013
Dec
2013
Mar
2014
Base: Adults aged 18+ in Great Britain (c. 1000 per month) Source: Ipsos MORI Issues Index
But concern about the NHS has been rising…
NHS
What do you see as the most/other important issues facing Britain today?
%

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22%
36%
24%
18%
1%
21%
37%
22%
20%
1%
A great deal A fair amount Not very much Nothing at all Don't know
42%
42%
Most people remain aware of the issues at Mid Staffs…
As you may know, a report was recently published into the problems at Mid Staffordshire hospital trust.
The report said that because of poor quality patient care in the hospital, there were between 400 and
1,200 more deaths than expected between 2005 and 2009. Before today, how much had you heard about
the problems at Mid Staffordshire?
Base: Adults aged 15+ in England: (978) March 2014; (1010) April 2013 Source: Ipsos MORI/Health Services Journal
March 2014 April 2013
58%
58%

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…and the majority still think at least some NHS hospitals have the same
problems
The report described ‘a tolerance of poor standards’ at Mid Staffordshire. To what extent, if at all, do
you think other hospitals in the NHS have these problems?
Base: Adults aged 15+ in England: (978) March 2014; (1010) April 2013 Source: Ipsos MORI/Health Services Journal
5%
22%
46%
19%
3% 5%5%
23%
50%
13%
1%
8%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
All hospitals in
the NHS have
problems like
this
Most hospitals in
the NHS have
problems like
this
Some hospitals
in the NHS have
problems like
this
Very few
hospitals in the
NHS have
problems like
this
No other
hospitals in the
NHS have
problems like
this
Don’t know
March 2014 April 2013%
92%
say at
least
some

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…and we are
particularly worried
about the future…

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72%
49%
45%
39%
27%
25%
24%
24%
20%
19%
18%
18%
17%
16%
14%
12%
10%
9%
8%
7%
6%
20%
41%
46%
43%
62%
43%
49%
58%
49%
69%
56%
35%
51%
55%
55%
48%
50%
32%
50%
8%
11%
10%
18%
11%
16%
32%
27%
23%
32%
13%
23%
27%
49%
35%
33%
34%
43%
42%
60%
44%
Brazil
India
China
Turkey
S Korea
Argentina
S Africa
Total
Belgium
Australia
Japan
Russia
Sweden
France
US
Canada
Poland
GB
Germany
Spain
Italy
Net satisfaction scores are calculated by subtracting the proportion of people who are dissatisfied from the proportion of people who are satisfied
Over the coming years, do you expect the quality of healthcare that you and your family will have
access to locally will improve, stay the same or get worse?
Source: Ipsos MORI Global Trends SurveyBase: Adults in 20 countries (16039 overall, 1000 Great Britain) September 2013
We are more negative than those in other countries about the sustainability of
our health services
Improve Get worse

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So why are we worried about
sustainability?

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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Lack of resources and investment continues to be seen as the biggest
problem facing the NHS
Overall, what do you see as the biggest problems facing the NHS? What else?
Source: Ipsos MORI/Department of Health
Public Perceptions of the NHS and Social Care Tracker Survey
Base: Adults aged 16+ in England (1016) November – December 2013, (c. 1000 per wave)
Spontaneous mentions over 10%
Lack of
resources/investment
38%
Long waiting lists/times24%
Not enough doctors
/nurses/understaffed27%
Bureaucracy/top
heavy management
17%
Overworked staff14%
Foreigners/immigrants14%
%

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51%
51%
39%
21%
10%
10%
9%
4%
*
1%
The NHS/health care
Schools
Care for the elderly
The Police
Social services
Benefit payments
Local authority services
Defence
Overseas aid
None of these
Don't know
Most people want the NHS protected from spending cuts
Which two or three, if any, of the following main areas of public spending do you think should be
protected from any cuts?
Source: Ipsos MORI/Nuffield TrustBase: Adults aged 18+ in Great Britain who think some services should be protected from spending cuts (809) November 2012
79%

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…and more are in favour of increasing funding to maintain the current service
than limiting services
Please give me a number between 1 and 5 to show where your view fits on this scale...
Base: Adults aged 15+ in England (1244) September - October 2013 Source: Ipsos MORI/Foundation Trust Network
The NHS should be given
more funding so that it can
continue to provide services
in the same way it does at the
moment
The NHS should provide fewer
services or only a set range of
vital services so that it stays
within the same budget it has at
the moment

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Meanwhile the anxiety
around care.data cannot
be ignored…

14. Version 1 | Public© Ipsos MORI Net satisfaction scores are calculated by subtracting the proportion of people who are dissatisfied from the proportion of people who are satisfied
To what extent do you agree or disagree: People worry too much about their privacy online - I'm not
concerned about what companies or the government know about me.
Source: Ipsos MORI Global Trends Survey
We are concerned about online privacy, particularly when compared with the
rest of the world
Agree Disagree
43%
41%
40%
39%
36%
34%
32%
32%
32%
31%
28%
25%
24%
23%
21%
20%
20%
19%
19%
18%
17%
52%
54%
53%
53%
58%
59%
62%
64%
64%
62%
66%
68%
71%
71%
73%
72%
73%
77%
72%
79%
79%
India
China
Brazil
Russia
Poland
Sweden
Italy
S Korea
Turkey
Argentina
Total
U.S.
Canada
Australia
GB
Belgium
Germany
France
Japan
Spain
S Africa
Base: Adults in 20 countries (16167 overall, 1000 Great Britain) October 2013

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To what extent, if at all, do you personally trust the following to use the information they have about
you in the right way?
% Great deal / Fair amount
Base: Adults in Great Britain (1000) October 2013
…though we are more likely to trust public sector healthcare providers than
other groups to use our data responsibly
34%
31%
31%
28%
24%
17%
17%
12%
11%
10%
Public sector healthcare providers
Banks
Your national government
Supermarkets
Private sector healthcare providers
Credit card companies
Insurance companies
Telecommunications companies
Social media sites
Media companies
Foreign governments
Source: Ipsos MORI Global Trends Survey
41%

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…and we are supportive of data being used for medical reasons
To what extent do you support or oppose each of the following specific uses of people’s data?
Base: Adults aged 16+ in the UK (446) July - November 2013
Source: Ipsos MORI/Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Public Attitudes to Science Survey
% Support% Oppose
88
73
70
56
36
18
9
6
11
13
20
43
62
70
Offering discounted mobile phone calls and texts, funded by
personalised adverts based on the content of people’s text
messages
Using data from shop loyalty cards to target products at people
who are more likely to want them
Combining the data held in multiple government departments
and using them to better tailor public services to individuals
Using police and crime data to predict and plan for crimes that
might take place in the future
Websites using people’s online browsing histories to create
personalised adverts for products that people are more likely to
be interested in
Creating a DNA database of cancer
patients, in order to help develop more
effective treatments for cancer
Using data from electronic travel cards (such as Oyster cards) to
improve the scheduling of buses or trains for passengers

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Nevertheless…

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…the NHS remains the thing that makes people most proud to be British
Which two or three of the following, if any, would you say makes you most proud to be British?
Base: Adults aged 15+ in England: (978) March 2014; (2515) November 2012 Source: Ipsos MORI
52%
47%
33%
26%
22%
7%
7%
7%
4%
3%
9%
45%
40%
36%
38%
16%
6%
6%
3%
4%
4%
15%
March 2014 November 2012
BBC
British business
Team GB
The Royal Family
Houses of Parliament
The NHS
The Armed Forces
Oxfam
None of these/Don’t know
John Lewis
Marks & Spencer

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So, how can Simon
Stevens maintain pride
and confidence in the NHS
given its current
challenges?
And can he harness the goodwill
the public feels towards the NHS
to reassure them about its
sustainability?
?

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For more information please contact:
Anna Quigley
Head of Health Research, Ipsos MORI
anna.quigley@ipsos.com
+44 (0) 20 7347 3996