Against this background of apparent public discontent, doctors will today mount a full-scale attack on NHS reforms, accusing the government of “contemptuous disregard” for the views of the profession and of introducing changes “that are not fit for purpose and are damaging to medicine and healthcare in the UK”.

The Archdeacon of Totnes, John Rawlings, giving the sermon at the BMA’s traditional pre-conference service last night, said the debacle over jobs for junior doctors “has brought heartache of immeasurable proportions”. Earlier Sam Everington, acting chair of the BMA, said he thought the survey of public opinion gave “a very stark message, but I think it is very clear”.

The survey results run counter to most of those commissioned by the government and the official watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, which have traditionally found most patients are happy with their doctors and the treatment they receive on the NHS.

Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the BMA, said the survey “reflects a big difference of opinion between the government, patients and doctors”.

The findings of the survey of around 1,000 members of the public in England, questioned on the street, generally reinforced the views of doctors – but there was divergence on the issue of charges in the NHS. The BMA is adamantly opposed to any charges, but 53% of the public thought there was a case for a small charge for some services where resources are limited.

“I wasn’t surprised, but our policy is clearly against it,” said Dr Everington. More work would be needed to find out exactly what sort of charges the public felt would be reasonable, he said.

The BMA has produced its own reform proposals for the NHS, the main one being that the NHS should be run by an independent board of governors. This won 60% support in the survey, but is not expected to find favour with government.

From:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,,2110593,00.html

The BMA’s critical view of Labour’s NHS policies have been long runing. On June 27 06 Health Direct posted: BMA reports that NHS does not provide choice says public

More than half the people in a general public survey on patient choice in the health service believe the NHS does not offer choice. The British Medical Association commissioned the survey and is publishing the findings on the eve of its annual meeting.

Mr James Johnson, chairman of the BMA, said: “Patient choice is on the lips of every politician and drives the NHS reform agenda. We wanted to find out what it means for ordinary people and how important it is to them. We found some surprising results which don’t seem to match government thinking. Most strikingly, the majority of people (55%) said the NHS did not offer choice”.