Given the apparently relentless negative press which has bombarded the NHS over the past year it would seem inevitable that the overwhelming mood is and should be one of despondency and pessimism. How many doctors then were taken aback at the output of the British Social Attitudes 2014 survey results?
– Overall Public satisfaction with the NHS at 65% – its second highest level since the survey began in 1983
– Dissatisfaction at 15% – the best result ever
– A&E satisfaction increased to 58, compared to 53% the previous year
– It is Dentistry which continues to have the lowest satisfaction ratings at 54%
Are these 1937 respondents confused? Are they representative? Are they just expecting less than they used to? Or does this suggest that the constant barrage of negative stories is the result of politicians scrabbling to score political points by knocking an institution that we all care deeply about? Could the survey be telling us that some things are improving? Would we be deluded to be so optimistic?
On our leadership and management courses we explore the importance of self-awareness from different points of view in order to understand the impact which we have upon others. It is worth pausing to consider where you are on the optimism-pessimism scale in relation to the performance of both your own area of influence and the NHS as a whole.
There’s lots of evidence to suggest that being an optimist is a good thing. They live longer and outperform pessimists. That’s not to say that the optimists are always right. In a study by Martin Seligman, he found that pessimists were generally more accurate in their short term predictions. The difference was that the optimists were more likely to focus on the upside, to persevere and learn from what went wrong.
Clearly there is an issue with blind optimism – ignoring problems and relying on wishful thinking. Such individuals are likely irritate others with over inflated opinions of their abilities, taking undue credit for success and likely to be heading toward disaster. Pessimists will generally have a negative impact on the mood and belief of those around them, making sure you know that “it was inevitable that this was going to happen”.
The attentive optimist, on the other hand, will accept appropriate responsibility for events whatever the outcome, and see what good can be taken from the situation. They will proactively seek out true facts – be they favourable or otherwise – and use them to make progress.
So considering both the past year of negativity and the British Social Attitudes Survey 2014, how optimistic are you feeling about the NHS?
