Julia Cream, a King’s Fund policy fellow and co-author of a report containing the survey results, said the findings “lay bare the day-to-day dysfunction of an NHS that is too often not meeting people’s needs and highlights the deep inequalities people experience when they are trying to access and engage with health services”.
“Admin plays a crucial role in how patients experience health care, yet our research shows many patients find themselves in an admin doom loop, trapped by no-reply emails and unable to access the person or answers they need,” said Jacob Lant, the chief executive of National Voices.
In a separate survey, 19% of people thought their local hospital was not a safe place to be treated in.When asked why they thought their hospital was unsafe, 27% said a roof could fall in, 26% cited a rodent infestation and 20% said sewage or flooding could occur.
GPs and their colleagues “are often involved in chasing up test results, missing letters and appointments with our patients, adding to our bureaucratic workload at a time when need for our care is rocketing”, she said.
Polling by Ipsos for Healthwatch England, National Voices and the King’s Fund found that 52% of the public thought the NHS was good at communicating with patients, but 25% said it was poor.
