Polls show NHS can succeed and fail at same time
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Your support makes all the difference.Two polls released over the weekend gave starkly differing accounts of voters' views of the NHS, proving that opinions on Labour's greatest post-war creation, or biggest mistake, are about as reliable as a railway timetable.
A poll for a Sunday newspaper found almost half of voters (49 per cent) believe that the NHS has deteriorated since Labour came to power in 1997, despite the largest sustained increase in investment in its history and the launch of an ambitious 10-year programme of reform.
The YouGov survey found that only one in five people believed extra investment will turn around the NHS, while 65 per cent said no improvements were likely.
YouGov polled 2,300 people online on 21 and 22 March. But a MORI poll published today and carried out for the management consultancy KPMG Consulting found that 60 per cent of voters were satisfied with their hospital and that 82 per cent were satisfied with their GP. Just 24 per cent of those surveyed were dissatisfied with their hospital and 9 per cent with their GP.
MORI surveyed 2,000 people in face-to-face interviews between 24 and 28 February, at the height of the row over the case of Rose Addis, the 93-year-old woman who was allegedly poorly treated at the Whittington Hospital, north London.
While some pedantic voters may simultaneously hold the view that the NHS has not improved under Labour, but still be satisfied with the standard of care delivered, the findings confirm what every pollster knows: the answers to a question largely depend on how you ask it.
The results of each poll fit neatly with the interests of the organisations that commissioned them. KPMG Consulting is working with the Department of Health to "improve performance, deliver better value and transform the patient experience". It concluded that the NHS was "still universal, still winning support".
The Sunday Times, no friend to Labour, claimed that its poll with YouGov showed voters were disappointed with Tony Blair's performance as Prime Minister and wanted him to step down.
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