Less than two thirds of Scots satisfied with local health services – survey

Less than two thirds of Scots are satisfied with local health services, a poll has shown.

The Scottish Household Survey received responses from more than 10,400 people across the country on a number of different questions.

Figures released on Tuesday show the level of satisfaction with local health services.

According to the survey, just 61% of people in 2024 said they were satisfied, a drop from 67% the year before and down from 83% when the SNP took office in 2007.

Meanwhile, 30% of people asked said they were not satisfied with local health services, up from 23% the year before, more than double the same figures before the pandemic and up from just 11% in 2007.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said the Government will “continue to work hard” to improve services.

“We have already taken action to improve services and we are seeing waiting times coming down for the fourth month in a row,” he said.

“As part of our focus on improving access to primary care, we are taking forward innovations including local walk-in GP clinics.

“Over the next three years, we will invest £531 million – the largest-ever investment in core GP services – to significantly boost recruitment and help deliver the capacity to improve services.”

But Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie hit out at the Government in response to the figures.

“These damning figures show the SNP has undermined the founding principles of our NHS and left too many Scots without a health service they can rely on,” she said.

“It’s no wonder satisfaction with health services is collapsing when one in six Scots are on a waiting list, A&E is stuck in a state of constant chaos and people have to battle an 8am rush for a GP appointment.

“The SNP has done enough damage to our NHS – we cannot risk a third decade of SNP failure.”

While Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the survey laid bare the Government’s “appalling stewardship” of the NHS.

“For nearly two decades, they have failed to support crucial services, and it is patients and staff who have had to deal with the devastating consequences,” he said.

“Successive SNP health secretaries have presided over appalling A&E waiting times, have left hundreds of thousands of Scots trapped on waiting lists and have done nothing to help patients beat the 8am rush to see their GP.

“Scots have had enough of the SNP’s incompetence which has left our NHS in a state of permanent crisis.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton claimed the survey response showed “the SNP are terrible for your health”.

“For the past 18 years, they have run local health services into the ground,” he said.

“When I’m out speaking to people across the country, they tell me how they are struggling to get the healthcare they need like never before, all while staff are run off their feet.

“Scotland deserves better, which is why my party have a realistic plan to ensure everyone gets the healthcare they need when they need it, from GPs to dentists to mental health professionals.”

The survey also looked at the satisfaction with local leisure and sport facilities, finding 46% were satisfied, 9% dissatisfied and 16% felt neither way.

Some 29% of people had no opinion of their local sports facilities.

Of those who use the facilities, 84% of people said they were satisfied with them, by which Mr Gray said he was “pleased”.

“We recognise that sport and leisure services play an important role in improving people’s lives and we will continue to work to support the wider sector to have the right facilities in the right places to enable communities to be active,” the Health Secretary added.