Few doctors believe NHS reforms will improve quality of patient care, shows BMA survey

A survey of doctors has found that few believe the government’s plans for the NHS in England will deliver the benefits envisaged by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley.

The Ipsos MORI survey of 1645 BMA members from all medical specialties (which represented a 9% response rate out of a total of 18 456 members), carried out in January, found that almost nine in 10 (88%) think the reforms are likely to lead to increased competition between providers, but only a fifth (21%) believe this will improve the overall quality of NHS care.

Similarly, although two thirds (67%) of the respondents …