TL;DR

A Health Foundation survey of 8,000 UK adults found that while 55% believe technology improves healthcare quality, support drops sharply among women (51%), 16-24 year olds (48%), and those in low-income households (40%). Only 38% believe AI specifically could improve care.

The Research

The Health Foundation surveyed 8,000 members of the UK public and 2,027 NHS staff through Censuswide between July and October 2025. The headline finding: support for technology in healthcare is not evenly distributed across demographics.

While 55% of the public overall said technology improves care quality, this fell to 40% among those in households where the main earner is in casual work or unemployed. Just 13% said technology makes care worse.

AI Draws More Caution

Views on AI were notably more sceptical. Only 38% of the public said AI could improve quality of care, while 19% believed it makes care worse.

Willingness to use AI-powered tools also varied by income. Just 35% of people in lower-income households would use an AI virtual assistant on the NHS App, compared to 49% of the overall public.

The public consistently prioritised safety over speed: 70% preferred AI outputs to be checked by a human rather than delivered quickly, and 72% wanted strong evidence requirements even if that slows the rollout of new AI tools.

“Our findings show the public supports using the NHS App to manage many everyday healthcare tasks but is more cautious about AI-generated advice,” said Ahmed Binesmael, senior improvement analyst at the Health Foundation.

NHS Staff Are More Positive — But Shifting

Support was higher among NHS staff, with 60% saying technology improves care quality and 57% believing AI improves care. However, the percentage of staff saying technology makes care worse has risen from 6% in 2024 to 19% in 2025 — a significant shift worth watching.

Looking Forward

As the NHS pushes ahead with digital transformation and AI adoption, these findings suggest that building public trust requires targeted engagement with sceptical groups — particularly lower-income communities who may be most affected by changes to how services are delivered.