Summary
Is public affection for the NHS preventing it from becoming fit for the future? Polling suggests that despite many complaints about the public health service, it is regarded as a much-loved and uniquely British institution. That's why for decades, it has been an article of faith among politicians that closing down hospitals or major medical services is close to electoral suicide. Received wisdom is that members of the public are dogmatically attached to their local hospitals. But could our attachment be more than just dogma? And what happens when politicians and professionals believe they know what needs to change - but the public come to an altogether different answer? Amid a time of rising demand, rising costs, and changing priorities, Sonia Sodha of The Observer explores the subtle relationship between public opinion and healthcare management. Producer: Gemma Newby.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:03.0 | Thanks for downloading the first in a new series of analysis. |
| 0:06.0 | I can promise you some cracking programs coming up. |
| 0:09.0 | Now it's been hard to avoid headlines screaming about yet another winter crisis in our hospitals, along with longer |
| 0:15.2 | term pressures over social care, mental health and an ageing population. |
| 0:19.9 | The government's promised more money and to change the way that hospital services are run. |
| 0:25.0 | But can we really trust the experts? |
| 0:27.6 | As Sonia Soda discovers, it's a question which goes to the heart of our political system. Summer of 2012, the nation crowded round screens to watch the Olympic opening ceremony. |
| 0:47.0 | A range of great British traditions were celebrated, James Bond, the Queen, East Enders. |
| 0:53.0 | Glamour, tradition, drama. |
| 0:56.0 | And what came next? |
| 0:58.0 | The NHS. |
| 1:01.0 | For a few minutes the Stratford Stadium became of all things a hospital. |
| 1:05.0 | Pajama clad children bounced on iron wrought beds, nurses in blue uniforms and ministered pills, |
| 1:12.0 | doctors in white coats jibed with their patients and Britain cheered along. |
| 1:17.0 | My family in the United States were astonished. They could not understand why were we celebrating having hospitals. |
| 1:27.0 | Why was it meaningful and you know so important that it was a symbol of the nation that we had the NHS. |
| 1:34.0 | Why wouldn't we be celebrating our hospitals? |
| 1:37.0 | The NHS is a special place in our hearts. |
| 1:40.0 | Our local hospitals are places of both joy and grief. |
| 1:44.0 | They're where our babies are born, where we take our kids when disaster strikes. |
| 1:48.0 | My family said goodbye to my grandfather in the same hospital I was born in. But experts tell us the NHS needs to change. Here's one of them, former health secretary Alan Milburn. |
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