The NHS Young Researchers are a group of young people aged 16-25 who, since April 2025, have come together to explore the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, and design research that aims to address what they feel is missing from the plan.
The authors of this report have focused on the “Sickness to Prevention” part of the plan by considering this core research question: "Do young people feel listened to when engaging with NHS services about their physical and emotional needs, and if not, how do we improve this?".
The group developed an online survey which had 147 young people from across England who responded. Qualitative responses were analysed thematically. As this project centers youth voice, team members also had the opportunity to spotlight certain areas that particularly resonated with them or which they felt were important to share, even if only a few young people talked about it.
Across all themes, the survey found that young people often don't feel listened to in healthcare settings.The impact of feeling not heard on a young person is diverse, ranging from days missed of school, misdiagnosis, worsening health, a mistrust of health professionals, and even experiencing medical trauma. 72% of young people who responded felt that who they are negatively impacts how NHS staff listen to them while 65% of young people felt that their previous experience of healthcare has made them less confident accessing healthcare again in the future.