ITV News Cuts Index

ITV News Cuts Index published on 13 June 2011

Date Published: 12 Jun 2011

Categories: Health | Public and communities | Public Sector | Social | UK

Description

A ComRes/ ITV News poll on the NHS shows more than half do not trust Cameron and call for NHS reform plans to be scrapped.

A ComRes/ ITV News poll on the National Health Service has found that the British public is extremely pessimistic about NHS reform plans and the Prime Minister’s handling of them, with a large number calling for the latest plans to be scrapped.

More than half of the population (56%) do not trust David Cameron to keep to the promises he has made about the NHS, while only one in four (23%) trust him to keep to his word. In keeping with this distrust, just one in five (20%) believe that the NHS is safe in the Prime Minister’s hands, with 54% who disagree and 27% who do not know.

Asked about the possibility that public sector spending cuts will not harm the NHS, two thirds of the population (66%) disagree with the sentiment, while a small percentage of 18% are not sure and just 16% agree.

Asked if the Government should scrap the current proposals for NHS reform and start from scratch, half of the British public (49%) agree with 32% unsure and just one in five (19%) disagree.

More than half of the public agree (51%) that that Conservative Party's plans for the NHS are just a way to privatise parts of the health service; one in four disagree with this (23%) or are not sure (25%).

Finally, numbers who believe that their local NHS services have got worse in the last three months have increased to more than one in three this week (38%), compared to one in four (24%) when asked the same question last October.

The findings of this installment of the Cuts Index will be broadcast on ITV News at Ten on Monday 13th June.

ComRes interviewed 2005 GB adults online between 10th and 12th June 2011. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults.  ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.