Nearly a quarter of patients went to the emergency room after being unable to access their family doctor, according to the survey.

Nearly a quarter of British adults (23%) went to overburdened emergency rooms because they didn’t have access to general practitioners. I offers.

18-24-year-olds were the most likely (43%) to go to the emergency room because they couldn’t make an appointment with their family doctor, compared with about a third (32%) of 25-34- and 35-24-year-olds. . 44-year-olds (30%) responded exclusively to the Redfield & Wilton survey. I showed.

Older age groups were less likely to seek emergency care instead of visiting a doctor: 16% of those aged 55 to 64 and over 65 said they had gone to a hospital for emergency care, and 12% of those aged 45 to 54.

The figures highlighted some of the reasons for the crisis that has played out in emergency rooms across the country, as access to both emergency care and general practitioners is under pressure.

Meanwhile, as the NHS faces a waiting list of 7 million patients for routine care, voters said they blame the government (46 percent) more for the supply backlog than the Covid pandemic (20 percent), which Rishi Sunak often cites.

Even Conservative voters in 2019 said they blame the government (29%) more than the pandemic (26%), although according to this group, the main blame lies with the top leadership of the NHS (30%).

Highlighting the challenges facing the prime minister ahead of the next election: voters are far more likely (34%) to say Labor has a credible plan to improve the NHS than Tories (15%), although among those who backed Mr Sunak’s party in 2019.

Elsewhere, the public has been largely satisfied with the care they have received in person on the NHS over the past year.

However, the majority (57 percent) said they thought most NHS patients could have been better cared for.

Nearly three-quarters (71%) said that the majority of patients do not receive the care they need as soon as possible.

Philip van Scheltinga, director of research at Redfield & Wilton Strategies, said: “Public recognition of the achievements of the Conservative Party has collapsed in almost every area of ​​politics, from economics and immigration to housing and education, but nowhere has public disapproval been as great as at the GGD. .

“Of course, the National Health Service, founded by Labor, has always been a weak point for the Conservatives.

“Even if they were responsible for the overall voting intent in the past, they would still be less trusted than Labor in the NHS.

“However, the public distrust of the government on this issue has become so pathetic that even if the Conservatives could provide billions in additional NHS funding, the public would still have more confidence in Labour.”

Professor Camila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said research has shown the need to hire more general practitioners.

“Allgemeinmedizin ist die Grundlage des NHS, wobei Hausärzte und unsere Teams die überwiegende Mehrheit der NHS-Patientenkontakte herstellen und den Druck an anderer Stelle im Gesundheitssystem, einschließlich der Notaufnahme, verringern – aber es zu muss über angemessene Ressource” , she said.

“Now general practitioners and our teams are working with heavy loads. We are doing many more consultations every month than before the pandemic, we are seeing more influenza, strep and other winter illnesses, and the care we provide is more complex than ever, and yet the NHS has 737 fully qualified doctors since 2019. general practice. .

“This is unsustainable and unsafe for patients and staff, and when one part of the NHS is stressed, it reverberates throughout the system.

“There are many reasons for the pressure our colleagues face in the emergency departments, such as the lack of hospital beds, but it should be clear that the pressure is being felt throughout the National Health Service, including doctors’ offices.

“It is important that this is recognized and resolved. That’s why we called on the government to develop a bold new workforce plan to address the challenges of hiring and retaining GPs beyond the 6,000 additional GPs promised to us in their program, and to take action against unnecessary bureaucracy in GP practice. it is that the general practitioner takes care of the patients.”

Saffron Corderi, Acting CEO of NHS Providers, said: “The burden on the healthcare system is growing, from GP operations to mental health services and hospital emergency departments. GP services are the backbone of the NHS, helping people stay healthy and being the gateway to specialized care for those who need it, but even they are extremely overwhelmed.

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper, MP, said the numbers show the “real horror” of the government’s handling of healthcare.

“Years of underfunding and mismanagement of local health services have led to this crisis. The Conservative Party can never again be trusted with the National Health Service,” said Ms Cooper.

“The time has come to act. The Prime Minister must declare a national critical incident and allocate all funds to transfer healthy hospitalized patients to social care. Instead, he hides behind his desk in Downing Street.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Welfare said: “We are extremely grateful for the hard work of the GP teams, which managed 80,000 more GP appointments every working day than last year. We plan to add over a million additional appointments this winter, strengthening our GP teams with other professionals.

“We have tasked NHS England with developing a long-term staffing plan to attract and retain more staff, with nearly 2,300 full-time equivalents more in GPs than in September 2019. The number of GP internships available has increased by 4,000 per year – up from 2,671 in 2014 – and a record 4,032 general practitioners accepted into general practice this year.”

:: Redfield&Wilton polled 1,500 eligible voters in the UK on 4 and 5 January.