Full Story in The Guardian 12 April 2018
Voters are ready by nearly two to one to pay more tax to bolster the NHS. A large face-to-face survey carried out before the winter crisis struck the health service in November has recorded the biggest-ever shift of opinion on the issue.
The poll, carried out by the respected British Social Attitudes research centre, has recorded a jump from 41% support for higher taxes in 2014 to 61% at the end of last year. An even higher proportion, nearly nine in 10 people, thought there was a funding crisis.
It also found a matching rise in opinions about the quality of NHS care, with nearly three times as many saying healthcare was declining, with most expecting it to get worse still. Only a fifth thought the standard of care would improve.
Theresa May has promised higher funding for the health service, but not until after a spending review this autumn. At current estimates, the NHS in England alone will be £900m in deficit by the end of this year, and Jeremy Hunt, the health and social care secretary, is calling for a 10-year pay settlement as part of a push for a significant increase in spending.