This compares with much higher satisfaction levels a decade ago, when 88% of adults said they were satisfied in 2011 and 86% in 2014.

The fall was not uniform across the country. The Shetland Islands reported the highest level of satisfaction at 84%, while North Lanarkshire recorded the lowest, at 47%.

East Ayrshire saw the steepest year-on-year decline, down 15 percentage points from 67% to 53%. Moray was the only area to record a noticeable improvement, up from 60% to 63%.

The data also show people living in remote rural areas were more likely to say they were satisfied with local healthcare than those in more populated parts of Scotland.

Around 69% of respondents in remote rural communities reported satisfaction, compared with 63% in large urban areas and 57% in other urban locations.

Satisfaction with the NHS was in the mid-80s a decade ago

However, levels of satisfaction were similar when comparing areas of high and low deprivation. Among adults living in the most deprived communities, 60% said they were satisfied, compared with 61% in the least deprived.

Despite growing concern about access to services and waiting times, most people reported positive interactions with health staff.

Across Scotland, 90% of adults agreed they had been treated with dignity and respect by local health services—up three points from 2023.

Na h-Eileanan Siar recorded the highest agreement rate at 96%, while North Lanarkshire again reported the lowest, at 81%.

Older adults were the most likely to feel they were treated with dignity and respect. Among those aged 75 and over, 93% agreed with the statement, compared with 87% of 16- to 24-year-olds.

The figures come as the Scottish Government continues to face pressure over NHS waiting lists, access to GPs and A&E waiting times.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said the Government will “continue to work hard” to improve services.

“We have already taken action to improve services and we are seeing waiting times coming down for the fourth month in a row,” he said.

“As part of our focus on improving access to primary care, we are taking forward innovations including local walk-in GP clinics.

“Over the next three years, we will invest £531 million – the largest-ever investment in core GP services – to significantly boost recruitment and help deliver the capacity to improve services.”

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Dame Jackie Baillie said: “These damning figures show the SNP has undermined the founding principles of our NHS and left too many Scots without a health service they can rely on.

“It’s no wonder satisfaction with health services is collapsing when one in six Scots are on a waiting list, A&E is stuck in a state of constant chaos and people have to battle an 8am rush for a GP appointment.

“The SNP is out of ideas and out of time to fix our NHS. A Scottish Labour government will make our NHS fit for the future so every Scot has local healthcare they can count on.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “This is yet more proof that the SNP are terrible for your health.

“For the past eighteen years, they have run local health services into the ground. When I am out speaking to people across the country, they tell me how they are struggling to get the healthcare they need like never before, all while staff are run off their feet.

“At next May’s election, no matter where you are in the country, everyone has a chance to end the SNP’s colossal mismanagement of our NHS by backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats on their second, peach-coloured ballot paper.”

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “Scots have delivered an absolutely damning verdict on the SNP’s appalling stewardship of Scotland’s NHS.

“For nearly two decades, they have failed to support crucial services, and it is patients and staff who have had to deal with the devastating consequences.

“Successive SNP health secretaries have presided over appalling A&E waiting times, have left hundreds of thousands of Scots trapped on waiting lists and have done nothing to help patients beat the 8am rush to see their GP.

“Scots have had enough of the SNP’s incompetence which has left our NHS in a state of permanent crisis.

“When Neil Gray finally unveils his winter plan this week, he must deliver measures that will properly support frontline services or our health service will completely buckle under the pressure.”