Public satisfaction with the UK's National Health Service (NHS) has registered its largest annual drop in three decades, according to a survey.
The British Social Attitudes Survey said satisfaction with the NHS has dropped from 70% last year to 58%, the biggest fall since the survey's inception in 1983.
The study, which was funded by the King's Fund think tank, surveyed 1,000 adults between July and November 2011.
Participants were asked "how satisfied or dissatisfied" they were with the way in which the NHS was run.
The fund's chief economist Prof John Appleby was quoted by the BBC as saying the survey was important because it had tracked satisfaction over such a long period of time.
"It is not surprising this has happened when the NHS is facing a well-publicised spending squeeze," Appleby said.
"Nevertheless, it is something of a shock that it has fallen so significantly. This will be a concern to the government given it appears to be closely linked with the debate on its NHS reforms, " he added.
The survey said that the drop in satisfaction was similar when England was compared with Scotland and Wales even though the NHS reforms are applicable only to England.
UK shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said the survey results mirror David Cameron's "disastrous decision" to reorganise the NHS at a time of financial distress.
"It is heading back to the bad old days of the 80s and 90s with waiting times, A&E in chaos and patients waiting for hours on trolleys in corridors," Burnham added.
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