Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2011: Core Module - Attitudes to Government, the Economy and Public Services in Scotland - Research Findings

Changing views of standards in public services

In 2011, the most common view of standards in the health service, education and public transport in Scotland was that they had stayed the same in the last 12 months. A minority (31% for health, 26% for education and 21% for transport) felt standards had fallen, while around 1 in 5 in each case felt standards were increasing.

Over half (56%) were 'very or 'quite' satisfied with the way the NHS was run. In contrast, just 22% felt standards in the health service had increased over the last 12 months. Even among those who felt standards had fallen in the last year, a quarter (27%) were nonetheless satisfied with NHS performance overall. This may suggest that people are basing their responses to these two questions on rather different considerations. For example, perhaps people are more likely to draw on personal experience of specific services in assessing their overall satisfaction, while perceptions of standards may be more influenced by other factors, like media coverage.

Satisfaction with the NHS in Scotland has been gradually increasing since 2005 (from 40% in 2005 to 56% in 2011).