Managers fear drop in support for the NHS

NHS communication managers are concerned that public support for the NHS may soon start to erode as the health service begins restoring pre-coronavirus levels of service.

A survey of over 150 NHS professional communications specialists, conducted by the Centre for Health Communication Research at Bucks New University in conjunction with NHS Providers and NHS Confederation, found serious concern about whether public support for the NHS would continue given the prospect of numerous delayed diagnoses of serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

The research, which includes respondents from across the country and from all types of NHS organisation including hospital trusts, ambulance trusts, health commissioners and health regulators, highlights a clear concern that ‘perceptions of the NHS will change quickly’ when the immediate pandemic threat passes and stories of delayed operations, missed cancer diagnoses and longer waiting lists for mental health services start to emerge.

The survey also found a feeling that during the pandemic there has been less bureaucracy across the NHS with little resistance to change, greater flexibility and an ability for people to adapt quickly, as well as a strong wave of transformative innovation across the NHS with video conferencing, private staff Facebook groups, team collaboration software, video shot on smart phones, secure clinical messaging platforms and live streaming of events on YouTube all becoming commonplace.

John Underwood, director of the Centre for Health Communication Research, said: “The NHS will undoubtedly be a very different service in the coming months and years and in many respects the pandemic has been a catalyst for the sort of rapid change that is sorely needed. But the changes ahead may not be welcomed by members of the public, many of whom who are expecting a return to some sort of pre-Covid ‘normal’. And a return to anything like normality depends on persuading patients and the public that hospitals are not dangerous places and that many are now largely Covid-free environments.”