Research: Healthcare professionals increasingly pessimistic about NHS

Most healthcare professionals believe that the quality of NHS patient care has worsened over the past 18 months, according to a new survey of 1171 GPs, nurses and practice managers by Cogora, a media and marketing services company.

The findings, published in the Primary Concerns 2014 report, represent a dramatic decline in healthcare professionals’ perception of the quality of NHS care; 63% of respondents in the 2014 survey believed that it had deteriorated in the preceding 18 months, compared with only 35% of respondents in Primary Concerns 2013

“The fact that the majority of the respondents believe that care has worsened in the last 18 months is truly shocking and upsetting for both professionals and patients, ” said Cogora’s Primary Care Editor-in-Chief, Victoria Vaughan.

“General practices are facing unprecedented pressures from all angles and it is clearly making it difficult for them to carry out their chief function which is to care for patients.”

The new report also reveals a lack of support for ‘clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs), which were introduced by the government two years ago. English GPs and nurses neither feel engaged with their CCGs, nor perceive CCG decisions to be reflective of their own views.

Cogora also found opposition from healthcare professionals to a number of new government proposals, including: the naming of GPs who fail to refer suspected cancer patients to hospital; giving the Care Quality Commission power to place GP practices who underperform under ‘special care’; and the co-location of GP facilities in hospital A&E departments, with over half of all GPs believing it would be the ‘final straw’ for already overworked practitioners.

For the second year in a row, the Primary Concerns report further describes a widespread morale problem among primary healthcare workers. In addition to factors related to the NHS such as bureaucracy, low salaries, and poor management, healthcare professionals also cited undeserved criticism from politicians and the media and unrealistic patient demand as reasons for their low morale.

For media enquiries contact:
Victoria Vaughan
Editor in Chief, Primary Care
T: 44 (0) 20 7214 0500
M: 44 (0) 7951554374
E: [email protected]

For all other enquiries contact:
Alex Beaumont
Managing Director
T: 44 (0) 20 7214 0500
E: [email protected]

About Cogora
Cogora is an integrated media and marketing services company that sits at the heart of a community of 220, 000 highly-engaged healthcare professionals.

For over 25 years we have produced inspirational and incisive content via a range of brands and channels. These in turn provide the data and insight that gives us a deep understanding of what our audiences want.

We combine these resources to create innovative, flexible solutions for clients looking to access and influence commissioners, primary and community care nurses, GPs, practice managers, hospital pharmacists and hospital managers across the UK and Western Europe.

For more information visit cogora.com