Brits' health care worse - doctors
2001-03-25 17:26
LOndon - The quality of care provided
by Britain's health service has deteriorated under the present
Labour government, according to an Internet survey of the
nation's doctors, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Nearly 75 percent of the 1,005 doctors who completed the
survey thought the extra billions of pounds spent on the
National Health Service under the Labour administration were
not providing better services for sick people.
The survey, conducted for the newspaper by Internet
research company Medix, concluded that the standard of patient
care had plunged under the Labour government.
Twenty-eight percent of doctors surveyed said the present
standard of patient care was good, compared with 39 percent who
said the standard of National Health Service (NHS) patient care
was good in 1997 - when Labour's term started.
Only 18 percent of doctors said NHS health care was poor in
1997. But 28 percent said present care was poor, while the
proportion of those who rated it very poor rocketed from one
percent in 1997 to nine percent in 2001.
Seventy-four percent said Labour's extra spending on the
NHS was not "getting to where it is needed," and only five
percent said the extra cash was reaching its targets.
The number of doctors who described their morale as good or
very good has plummeted from 34 percent in 1997 to 15 percent.
The survey was posted on the Medix website on March 16 and
left there until March 22. In that period, 1,133 doctors
visited the site of whom 1,005 completed the survey - a
response rate of 89 per cent.