Public expects NHS care to decline - PruHealth

The study from PruHealth also found that a third (30%) of Britons want people to pay for their own ‘self-inflicted' health issues caused by smoking, alcohol abuse or being overweight.

This is supported by 66% of respondents believing that the nation is unhealthier now than ten years ago while 69% thought people should take more responsibility for their own health.

The private medical insurer (PMI) surveyed 2,019 Britons, of which two thirds (67%) of respondents expect the range and half (49%) the quality of NHS care to decline in the next few years.

Half of those who replied said the NHS currently offered a good level of care.

However, the report noted that what Brits consider as the nation's problems are not necessarily ones they would class as their own, and this could act as a fundamental barrier to changing behaviour.

For example, more than half of respondents (52%) state obesity and being overweight as the greatest risk to the UK.

But in less than one in ten (9%) consider it a personal concern despite the latest Health and Social Care Information Centre data showing a quarter of adults (25% men, 24% women) are obese, and 42% and 32% are overweight.

Dr Katherine Tryon from PruHealth, believed people have identified national health problems and that healthy living needed to be incentivised.

"People have realised that the nation's health is worse than even a decade ago and now the issue is whose responsibility is it to change this, which is particularly crucial when there is increased pressure on healthcare finances," she said.

"The key for both the public and private sector will be to remove the barriers to healthy living - for example, increasing access to healthy activities and providing stronger motivation through both financial and non financial incentives.

"However, while people are aware of national health problems they are in denial about their own. They need to realise that the ‘nation's health' means them," she added.