It’s not too surprising that people trust ‘organisations representing doctors nurses and other health professionals,’ well above David Cameron and Andrew Lansley, when it comes to the NHS reforms. People are sceptical of politicians in a way that they aren’t of the health service, its unions and its workers. 64 years of ‘national religion’ status for the NHS, and many more years of gross political let-down, have made sure of that.
But today’s YouGov findings still shine a fresh light on Cameron and Lansley’s changing approach to the reforms. A year ago, they clearly looked at charts such as that above and thought, ‘Woah, we’d better get those organisations on side, and quick’ — hence that pause in the Health Bill to canvass the views of doctors and nurses. But now they are treating some of those same organisations more as The Enemy That Must Be Defeated.

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