THE Tories’ “appalling state vandalism” and mismanagement of the NHS is to blame on plummeting public satisfaction rates, health campaigners said today.

A new survey by the National Centre for Social Research on British social attitudes shows that just 24 per cent of people are satisfied with the health service, down from 29 per cent last year, while 52 per cent are dissatisfied.

The level is the lowest recorded since the surveys began in 1983.

More than 80 per cent of respondents said that they believe the NHS had a major or severe funding problem despite the government’s official line that the service is receiving “record funding.”

Nearly half of respondents said they would support the increase of taxes and higher spending on the NHS.

Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman and retired consultant paediatrician Dr John Puntis said: “The appalling state vandalism exemplified by the mismanagement of the NHS under the Conservatives is starkly reflected in the survey, with many citing delays in accessing care as a cause for their dissatisfaction.

“This was also the reason why the NHS fell from the number one position in international comparisons in 2021.

“Before this, and when properly funded, the NHS model was consistently shown to be one of the best in the world.”

Dr Puntis said that the government’s “cynical misleading of the public by spurious claims” of record funding “obscures the fact that the UK is spending around 18 per cent less per capita on healthcare than comparable European neighbours.”

He said that an increase to this level of funding would “do much to improve NHS performance” and warned against a “greater reliance on a small and parasitic private sector to improve matters by filching NHS staff, cherry-picking low-risk patients and hiking costs.”

Dr Puntis also said that the nearly three million people unable to work because of sickness “illustrates how underinvestment in the NHS is now undermining the economy.”

“Clearly, most people still support the founding principles of the NHS and want it properly funded through a fairer system of general taxation,” he said.

“The NHS model is neither out of date nor a failure, it has simply been failed by politicians who wrongly see healthcare as a burden rather than something essential to the welfare of society.”