Image showing a graph of satisfaction with the way the NHS runs, over time, from 1983 to 2025. This is figure 1 on the webpage linked to in our post, and it shows that satisfaction increased to 26% in 2025 but remains at historically low levels.

NEW: Public satisfaction with the NHS increased to 26% in 2025.

It’s the first increase since Covid, but satisfaction remains low and individual NHS services did not see a similar rise.

Read our #BritishSocialAttitudes survey analysis with @thekingsfund.bsky.social:

👉 buff.ly/iB2JyC9

At last week's Summit, @teuntoebes.bsky.social highlighted how a zero‑risk mindset can undermine quality of life.

Teun believes that a shift in perspective can lead to real change in how people experience care.

Watch Teun's #ntsummit talk in full:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TC5...

Why hasn’t social care reform stuck?

Baroness Casey sets out what needs to change to meet today’s needs.

#ntsummit

Chart showing the pay of various NHS staff groups relative to 2010/11. The chart shows that 15 years since, real terms pay for most NHS staff has recovered slower than the public sector average.

🆕 How do #NHS staff earnings compare to 15 years ago?

Our analysis finds that real terms pay for most NHS staff has recovered slower than the public sector average. Pay recovery to 2010 levels for #nurses and #midwives in particular is still out of reach.

Read here: buff.ly/xQD2Nhw

How worried should we be about the impact of mis- and disinformation on health?

We asked @becksfisher.bsky.social, our Director of Research and Policy and a practising GP.

Nuffield Trust Summit 2026 The Summit will take place on 5-6th March 2026

Baroness Casey just gave her first big interview as social care reform commissioner on BBC R4, trailing her main speech at @nuffieldtrust.org.uk summit. She called for politicians to back 25 years of change and warned it will matter to us all. Tune in at 2.15 www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/summit/nuffi...

Chart showing the number of GPs in England over time, from late 2015 to January 2026. After declining, the number of GPs has now recovered to 2016 levels. During that period of decline, two dotted lines show the missed targets to increase the number of GPs by 5,000 by 2020 and by 6,000 by 2024.

Our NHS staffing tracker shows there were just under 30,000 full-time equivalent GPs in England at the end of 2025. 🧑‍⚕️

It marks a long‑awaited return to 2016 levels, after earlier targets for substantial increases have been and gone.

Here's what the data shows... (1/4)

Plan B: What the forthcoming NHS workforce strategy should not ignore As the government prepares to publish a new 10-year NHS workforce plan, questions remain about how to build a realistic and sustainable approach to staffing the health service. This long read by Lucin...

There's a new workforce plan on the way for the NHS in England. But what's needed to make it a success?

That's what my latest blog considers 👇

The NHS has a history of setting plans that are rightly ambitious but which fail to live up to the hype - there's much to reflect on and learn from 🧵(1/6)

The tough choices at the heart of the government’s dispute with big pharma The government has been locked in a dispute with pharmaceutical companies for a number of months over how much the NHS pays for new branded medicines. Sally Gainsbury and Huseyin Naci set out the issu...

Trump and pharma are lobbying gov hard to water-down the NHS’s ability to contain spending on new branded drugs. Today’s long read from me and the LSE’s Huseyin Naci sets out why the gov should hold firm to protect the health of the NHS and UK public nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/th... >>

Trump pressure to hike UK drug prices could cost NHS billions, experts warn Experts warn a new deal will only trigger further increased price demands and make healthcare in the UK more expensive

We have urged the government to stand firm against pressure to increase drug prices, as an increase would mean less of the #NHS budget could be spent on other NHS services with wider health benefits, such as GP appointments and surgeries.

Read more in @the-independent.com 👇

buff.ly/gA2PePU

We'll be at Labour Party Conference next week, digging into the tricky questions and trade-offs at the heart of health policy.

Do join us if you can!

We’re 2 weeks out from the Lords debate on #AssistedDying, so now is the time to start thinking in more detail about how this service would actually work if it becomes legal.

Great to have Nuffield Trust researchers out on the airwaves sharing insights from other countries today.

NHS pays hospitals £33 for each patient removed from waiting list A lack of data surrounding the incentives has raised fears that trusts are gaming the system to bring numbers down

NHS pays hospitals £33 per patient they remove from waiting lists. Thousands have been deleted. While this could be valid in most cases, there are fears it could lead to mistakes and the process lacks transparency:
www.thetimes.com/article/d718...

Fourth time lucky?!

Why am I hopeful that this time, a promise of review might lead to actual change?

🧵👇

Spending review leaves a greater need for clarity on healthcare priorities The notion that the health service has emerged as a “winner” from the chancellor’s spending review is a bit like congratulating someone who has just won back the face value of a scratch card. It certa...

The government has set the NHS’s budget for the next 3 years, now it needs to be realistic about its priorities - my comment piece in the BMJ:

www.bmj.com/content/389/...

Proud of our small but mighty think tank @nuffieldtrust.org.uk today. Our remarks on the SR were put to Rachel Reeves on the Today programme today. And Wes Streeting starts his speech at #NHSConfedExpo by referencing our analysis with @thekingsfund of British Social Attitudes

Nuffield Trust response to the Spending Review

The #NHS settlement from the #spendingreview may look generous, but it soon melts away in the context of existing commitments - govt must be clear about the compromises.

Social care is also unlikely to see the transformation we were promised.

@sallygainsbury.bsky.social‬ response 👇

Resident doctor pay: How do different methods affect how pay changes appear?

Resident doctor pay: How do different methods affect how pay changes appear? Thanks to @nuffieldtrust.bsky.social for their analysis in The Sunday Times this week: www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/re...

Labour say there's been a 'massive increase' in NHS appointments - this begs to differ Keir Starmer made slashing NHS waiting times one of his priorities, and his Labour government has already claimed it as one of its biggest achievements so far. But new data tells a different story -…

Is 2m extra appointments enough? @sarahscobie.bsky.social‬ says this "won't come close to bringing the treatment waiting list back to pre-pandemic levels, or to meeting longer-term NHS targets".

Tune in to Sky News at 1045 to hear @becksfisher.bsky.social‬ discuss the waiting list.

Something to keep an eye on - district nurses will play an important role if ambitions to shift more care into the community are to be realised. But is enough being invested in this workforce?👇

More Nuffield Trust work coming on this soon!

Diverging paths: How other countries have designed and implemented assisted dying As the assisted dying Bill returns to the House of Commons next week, this in-depth analysis offers evidence from a wide range of contexts to further inform the debate. What can the UK learn from…

Today the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will be brought before MPs for amendments.

Our analysis of the international approaches to assisted dying brings important context to the debate.

Read the analysis here: buff.ly/KeuSXxp

Last week we warned about govt making sudden changes to immigration rules without a full assessment of the impact on health & care 👇 Now, ahead of the Immigration white paper, care employers may be facing a void: the end of overseas recruitment, higher ENICs, & no higher pay offer for domestic staff

Diverging paths: How other countries have designed and implemented assisted dying As the assisted dying Bill returns to the House of Commons next week, this in-depth analysis offers evidence from a wide range of contexts to further inform the debate. What can the UK learn from…

NEW ANALYSIS explores how approaches to #AssistedDying vary internationally.

The Nuffield Trust holds a neutral position on the legalisation of assisted dying in the UK.

Our analysis reviews the evidence for jurisdictions where it has been implemented, to help inform debate.
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V useful thread ⬇️

What do Trump's tariffs and US-UK trade negotiations mean for the NHS? With global headlines still dominated by the latest news on tariffs, discussions about a possible US-UK trade deal have also received media attention. But what could the tariffs and transatlantic trad...

Do Trump's tariffs pose a threat to UK medicine supplies? Does signing a deal risk reviving the worrying measures the USA pushed for in his first term? I'm saying it's a yes to both, but the situation is controllable with the right actions www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/wh...

Really interesting morning at this @mja-uk.bsky.social event featuring Sally Gainsbury from @nuffieldtrust.bsky.social.

If you want to hear more about prioritising healthcare based on inequalities, give this #MoralMaze episode a listen: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, What is the ethical purpose of the NHS? Debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories.

Tune in to BBC Radio 4 tonight at 8pm for a new episode of #MoralMaze recorded at our Summit last month. 📻

Guests debate the ethical purpose of the #NHS. Should we care more about equality of outcome – being equally healthy – or equality of access – treating everyone the same?

What do people think about the #NHS? Our analysis of the #BritishSocialAttitudes survey with @thekingsfund.bsky.social shows satisfaction is at a record low, but it also reveals much more.

Read report: www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/research/pub...

@markgdayan.bsky.social explores 👇

It’s been a pleasure working with talented @nuffieldtrust.bsky.social & @thekingsfund.bsky.social researchers to launch this project. 👏

Lots of really interesting findings on public perceptions of the #NHS this year - the figures on A&E services are particularly striking.

Brexit a key factor in worst UK medicine shortages in four years, report says Nuffield Trust says supply chains have shifted, with medicines for epilepsy and cystic fibrosis among those now scarce

Drug shortages have been affecting people around the country but haven't really reached Westminster as a story. A big issue unlikely to go away any time soon - complex supply chains providing an ever greater number of drugs will always have vulnerabilities. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...