Britons have lost faith that the NHS will be there for them if they need it this Christmas, a damning study reveals. The health service is gripped in a public confidence crisis, with just one in four adults now believing they could get timely access to an ambulance or GP.
![[As GP surgeries shut their doors and hospitals operate on skeleton staff, almost six in ten (57 per cent) say there are not enough NHS services available over Christmas]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/24/00/93444627-14223177-image-a-53_1734999208832.jpg)
Patient groups say pensioners are ‘crossing all their fingers and toes’ they do not fall ill as they fear the odds of getting care on time is down to the ‘luck of the draw’. As GP surgeries shut their doors and hospitals operate on skeleton staff, almost six in ten (57 per cent) say there are not enough NHS services available over Christmas and New Year.
Just 25 per cent are very or fairly confident they could get a GP appointment during this time and a mere 26 per cent are confident an ambulance would arrive ‘quickly’. Those making their own way to A&E also anticipate long waits, with just 25 per cent expecting to be seen quickly, according to the IPSOS survey of 2,161 British adults for the Mail and Guardian.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly patients, said: ‘Christmas is a time when we can expect to see more domestic and social accidents and when seasonal illnesses are at their height, so why does the NHS go into hibernation?.
‘Us older folk keep all our fingers and toes crossed that we don’t have a fall over Christmas . . . we know that getting an ambulance or quick treatment for the next ten days will be down to the luck of the draw.’. The health service is gripped in a public confidence crisis, with just one in four adults now believing they could get timely access to an ambulance or GP.
