13.06.12
Lansley rejects blame for lower public NHS satisfaction
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has rejected the Labour suggestion that his leadership of the NHS through the reforms process led to a record decline in public approval of the health service.
At a departmental question session on June 12, 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?”
“No I don’t,” Lansley retorted.
He continued: “I wasn’t satisfied. 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.”
The British Social Attitudes survey reported that satisfaction with the NHS fell from 70% to 58% last year – the biggest drop since the survey started in 1983.
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