There has been a "startling collapse" in public satisfaction with the NHS, according to a major public survey.
Some 59% of adults say they are dissatisfied with the health service, up seven percentage points in a year and the highest level on record.
The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, which covers England, Scotland and Wales, found only a fifth of respondents (21%) are now satisfied with the NHS.
This is down from 24% year-on-year and the lowest proportion since the survey began in 1983.
Overall satisfaction with the NHS has plummeted 39 percentage points since the pre-pandemic year of 2019, when 60% of adults said they were satisfied with the health service.
The survey, which was carried out in autumn 2024 and has been published by the Nuffield Trust and the King's Fund, shows sharp drops in satisfaction with particular services, including A&E, GPs and dentistry.
However, the findings suggest people still believe in the founding principles of the NHS and the majority believe it needs more money and staff.
Nuffield Trust policy analyst Mark Dayan said: "These figures make clear that since 2019 and through the Covid-19 pandemic we saw a startling collapse in NHS satisfaction.
"This was no aberration: it is continuing even today.
"It is by far the most dramatic loss of confidence in how the NHS runs that we have seen in 40 years of this survey."
The figures imply there was no bounce back in public confidence in the months immediately following Labour's victory at the general election in July 2024.
Instead, an accompanying report suggests the public now agree with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting that the NHS is "broken".
The study says: "The last time the Labour Party held office, satisfaction was at an astonishingly high 70% - 49 percentage points higher than the latest result and a figure that feels almost unreachable in today's more pessimistic times.
"This pessimism was reflected in the Government's proclamation just weeks before BSA fieldwork began that the NHS was 'broken' - and may partially explain the lack of a post-election 'bounce' in optimism from Labour supporters seen the last time their party swept to power."
- Some 52% of adults are dissatisfied with A&E services, a record high and up 14 percentage points from 38% in 2023, while 19% are satisfied, a record low and down 12 points from 31%; it means A&E is the NHS service with the lowest satisfaction levels for the first time.
- Fewer than a third (31%) of adults are satisfied with their GP services, the lowest level on record, while almost half (49%) said they were very or quite dissatisfied.
- Satisfaction with NHS dentistry "has continued to collapse", with levels at a record low of 20%, compared with 60% in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, while dissatisfaction levels (55%) are a record high.
There is also widespread unhappiness with NHS waiting times, with 62% dissatisfied with the length of time it takes to get a GP appointment, 65% dissatisfied with waits for hospital appointments, and 69% dissatisfied with waits to be seen in A&E.
At the same time, the survey suggests people want more money spent on the NHS, with 44% saying too little cash is spent and an additional 25% saying far too little is spent.
Increasing tax and spending to fund the health service was favoured by 46% of respondents, though only slightly ahead of keeping things as they are (41%).
Only 11% of people agreed there are enough staff in the NHS, with a huge 72% disagreeing.
Inpatient and outpatient hospital care had the highest level of satisfaction among NHS services (32%), with just over a quarter of respondents (28%) saying they are dissatisfied.
Overall, 51% of the public said they are very or quite satisfied with the quality of NHS care.
But satisfaction with social care remains low at just 13%, while 53% said they are very or quite dissatisfied.
Report author Bea Taylor, fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said the findings show "just how dismayed" people are about the state of the NHS.
She added: "The Government says the NHS is broken, and the public agree.
"But support for the core principles of the NHS - free at the point of use, available to all and funded by taxation - endures despite the collapse in satisfaction.
"Harnessing this support and fixing the foundations of the NHS must be central to the Government's forthcoming reform programme."
The survey measures opinions of the NHS and does not specifically ask about their most recent experiences of the health service.
It found respondents were split in how they feel about the NHS according to their age and who they vote for.
Some 68% of over-65s are satisfied with the quality of care compared with 47% of those who are younger, while Reform voters were less likely to be satisfied with the NHS than supporters of other parties.
Nevertheless, 90% of adults continue to support the founding principle of the NHS that it is free at the point of use, and 80% still want it funded from general taxation.
However, the proportion "definitely" agreeing that it should be available to everyone fell "significantly" from 67% to 56%.
Dan Wellings, senior fellow at the King's Fund, said: "The latest results lay bare the extent of the problems faced by the NHS and the size of the challenge for the Government.
"While the results are sobering, they should not be surprising. For too many people the NHS has become difficult to access: how can you be satisfied with a service you can't get into?
"In 2010, seven out of ten people were satisfied with the NHS - it is now down to only one in five.
"The scale of the decline over the last few years has been dramatic."
The interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: "These figures must be a wake-up call for the NHS."
Mr Streeting said: "We inherited a broken NHS and this survey shows patients agree.
"Ever-longer waiting lists, widespread corridor treatment and a regular struggle to see your GP have led to these record levels of dissatisfaction with the health service.
"Since this survey was conducted, we have taken the NHS off life support.
"Thanks to the necessary decisions we took in the Budget, we've invested a record £26 billion over two years, ended the crippling strikes, cut waiting lists for five months in a row and delivered two million extra appointments seven months early.
"There's a long way to go but we are fixing our NHS to make it fit for the future.
"The British public's belief in the founding principles of the NHS remains unshaken and I am proud to be part of a government that shares that commitment as we deliver our plan for change to make our NHS the envy of the world once again."
Dr Michael Mulholland, honorary secretary of the Royal College of GPs, said: "The unfortunate reality is that patient need for GP care and services continues to outstrip the resources available to us to deliver it.
"GPs and our teams are now delivering more appointments than ever before - 367 million last year, more than a million per day - and increasingly complex care, but with just a handful more qualified GPs than in 2019.
"The results of this survey demonstrate how nonsensical it is that many GPs are reporting being unable to find work when there is such clear patient need for GP care."